Slam dunk
by Misura
Summary: [AU] Yugi has a hidden talent for basketball, Seto has a stalker (coughJoeycough) and Yami gets an unexpected rival. [shounen ai]
1. One

Slam dunk

* 

Warnings/notes : AU, Yami/Yugi, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda and possibly slight Bakura/Ryou, oocness.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. 

written at 20th january 2004, by Misura, for Kaira-chan who put up a challenge for a basketball-fic.

**********

Checking his watch, Yugi Mutoh, the newest pupil to Domino High, started running. Today would be his first day here and he didn't want to make a bad impression by being late. He hoped his class-mates would be nice. 

Jogging past a field on which several boys were playing a game of basketball, Yugi hardly paid any attention to the road ahead of him, too caught up in following the movements of the ball and the players. Thus, he only noticed the tall boy, who was standing in the shadows of a tree (which made him even less visible) a few seconds before he bumped into him.

Fortunately, Yugi managed to get a hold on something that kept him from falling over. What was a little less fortunately was that that 'something' was the trenchcoat of the tall boy, who was now glaring at him like he was some annoying insect.

Blushing slightly (this situation *had* mainly been his fault after all), Yugi stepped back, awkwardly stuttering an apology, followed by a quick introduction, neither of which was replied to.

"So ... what's your name?" Yugi dared, only to receive another glare. He was about to try again when the sound of a bell ended the basketball-game. The boys (and two girls) who had been playing hurried off the field, reminding Yugi he was supposed to hurry to his class.

Just when he was about to do so though, a blond boy literally jumped the tall boy whose name Yugi still didn't know. Judging by the murderous expression on his face, this action was no more welcome than Yugi's grabbing of his trenchcoat. Ah well, at least he wasn't the only one who got glared at, Yugi mused.

"Setooo! You watched the game! You *do* care!" Judging by the amused looks on some of the other players' faces, this wasn't an unusual occurence. Yugi did consider it a little weird though.

"I was just passing by. Now, get off of me, mutt!" The tall boy, whose name apparently was 'Seto' managed to pry off the blond, quickly walking away to the main-building. 

"You know you want me, Seto! You can't hide and run forever!" Several players snickered, while the blond dramatically spread his arms, as if inviting Seto to come back for a hug. Dropping them back at his side after a few seconds, he sighed. Yugi wondered if he just imagined the flash of sadness that passed over his face.

"My name is Kaiba for you, pup." A last sneering look back somehow seemed to cheer the blond back up again. Yugi concluded these two boys had a rather odd relationship. Or lack thereof perhaps.

For a moment, the blond seemed to want to run after him, but then he noticed Yugi.

"Hey, you must be the new kid! I'm Joey. If you want a guide or something, just tell me. I'd be more than happy to show you around a bit." Yugi returned the enthusiastic handshake slightly overwhelmed.

"I'm Yugi," he managed. "Thanks for the offer."

"No problem at all," Joey grinned.

"He could use some normal company instead of hanging around Kaiba all the time," a green-eyed boy joked. Joey introduced him as Ryuuji Otogi, before attempting to smack him for the suggested insult. One of the two girls watched them go with a chuckle and shook her head.

"My name is Anzu. If Joey's too busy mooning or making a fool of himself to play tour-guide, feel free to ask me." She smiled and Yugi nodded gratefully. Joey seemed very nice but also a bit ... lively. Though he didn't like the way Kaiba seemed to stare down on the blond, the comparison with a puppy wasn't that unsuitable.

"It's a pity you're so short, really. We could have used another player," Anzu continued. "Not to be insulting or anything," she added quickly, "It's just that Yami has grown a bit cocky recently."

"Yami?" Yugi asked curiously, mentally trying to remember anyone who might bear that name amongst the players he had seen on the field before he'd crashed into Kaiba.

"Tall, black shirt and spiky hair in three different colors. Kind of like yours really." Anzu shrugged. "You're bound to meet him soon enough. He's in the same class as you and me."

*****

Saying that Yami was 'a bit cocky' was like saying Kaiba was 'a bit anti-social', Yugi quickly discovered. True to his words, Joey gave him a tour of the school, which included lots of introductions. Joey seemed to know just about everyone, making Yugi's head spin with his quick talking until he was sure he wouldn't remember a third of the names he'd heard. 

Yami's name was one of the few he was sure he'd recall the next day though. They found him after a bit of asking around, outside on the basketball-court. Joey muttered something about how he should have known and how some people were just obsessed. Yugi was tempted to ask about the blond's own rather conspicuous interest in Kaiba, but decided it might be better to stay away from that particular subject until he knew the two of them a bit better.

And so they watched in silence how Yami practiced, Joey apparently waiting for Yami to take a break and Yugi not knowing what to say. After five minutes without Yami showing any sign of even having noticed his audience, Joey's patience ran out. Stepping forward and nimbly grabbing the ball, he finally managed to get Yami's attention. If not in any positive kind of way.

"What do you want?" Yami asked coldly, reaching for the ball.

"For you to meet our new classmate," Joey grinned, apparently completely unbothered by Yami's attitude. Deftly, keeping the ball out of Yami's reach he nodded to Yugi. "This is Yugi, Yugi, meet Yami, the ever sunny and cheerful pride of Domino's basketball-team."

"Hi," Yugi smiled shyly, holding out his hand.

"Hn. You're short," Yami replied, before snatching the ball out Joey's hands and continuing his private game as if nothing had happened.

"He's pretty nice once you get to know him," Joey remarked as they walked back.

~tbc???~

A/N : Well? Worth continuing? Like the cast? I did consider having Seto and Joey be the rivals (instead of Yami and Yugi), but I thought this'd be more fun. ^^;


	2. Two

Slam dunk

**

Warnings/notes : AU, Yami/Yugi, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda and possibly slight Bakura/Ryou, oocness.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. 

written at 24th january 2004, by Misura

Thanks to the people who reviewed the first chapter :

To Leaf Zelindor : Thank you!

To chibibaka1 : Glad to hear you liked it! ^_^

To hieiandkuramalover : ^^; Yes, I think Yugi'll be more than able to handle Yami. ~.^ Thank you!

To Temptress Nagisa : Poor Seto? Why? He constantly gets glomped by Joey! ^_^; Thank you!

To Sansi : Yes, Yami/Yugi will be main, though Seto/Jou will get a chunk too. Thank you! ^_^

To Hieithelostsoul : Glad to hear you liked them! ^_^

To Ryasha : Thank you! I'll try for weekly updates. ^_^

To RaineKitsune : ^^; Yup, but he nonetheless manages to look down a looooong way. Thank you!

To Kaira-chan : Well, I like Yami cocky and arrogant (before I have Yugi tear his mask down and reduce him to a cute guardian) so I'm glad to hear you don't mind me writing him that way too. Seto/Joey …. cute? Once they get together, maybe. (No, wait, make that definitely.) ^_^ Thank you!

To Renoirkmk : Would I dare *not* to have them fall in love? ^_^; Thank you!

To SoulDreamer : Thank you! ^_^

To Mai Valentine : I'll try to make this my new Monday-story and update weekly. Thank you! ^_^

To Kiawna : Thank you for the encouragement! ^_^

To Mel Gods : Well, maybe Yami was just a bit grumpy that day? ^^; He's not as bad as he seems, really. Kind of like Seto. Thank you! ^_^

To Miami-chan : One week … soon enough? ^_^

To Suppis Tenshi : Yami will always be cocky I'm afraid, whether he loves Yugi or not. At least, that's how I enjoy writing him. ^_^; Thank you!

To Killian : Well, Yami's not that bad, really. You'll see … And how do you know Seto doesn't like Joey back already? Maybe he's just too shy to tell his puppy! *coughs* ^^; Thank you very much! ^_^

To Carmen5-Nemrac : Maybe Yami just had a bad day? ^^; Thank you!

To Romennar : *blushes* Chapter two's right here. Please don't ask about chapter three though ; I haven't even started on that one yet. ^^; Thank you! ^_^

To duenna : Thank you, I will. : )

To DarkShadowFlame : Thank you! ^_^

**********

"The problem with Yami," Otogi remarked, dodging Joey's attempt to grab the ball out of his hand without taking his eyes off Yugi, "is that he's so damn good." Before Joey could try again, Otogi shot the ball at the basket, only to have it bounce off.

Joey gave a cry of triumph as he shot after it, while Otogi snorted and shook his head. "Not just at basketball either. He's practically at the top of every class." Sitting down, Otogi picked a waterbottle out of his bag, eagerly gulping down about half of its contents in a few seconds.

"Seto - " Joey began, before a disgusted glare of Otogi shut him up. Yugi wasn't quite sure how much of Otogi's apparent annoyance was faked, though he had the impression that the black-haired boy was mostly concerned for Joey and merely disapproved of his crush on Kaiba.

"Yes, yes, Kaiba's pretty good too. Geez, Joey, can't you go for two minutes without mentioning that guy's name?" Otogi rolled his eyes. "Lucky for us he's not interested in sports or you'd make puppy-eyes at him in the middle of a game instead of concentrating on winning it."

"Seto is better than Yami in almost every class," Joey persisted doggedly. "That's why they can't stand each other."

"Well, that *and* the fact that Kaiba's the only one who has an even bigger palace of a house to live in than Yami," Otogi remarked, idly twirling a lock of his hair between his fingers. "And since when can you call him 'Seto' by the way? Did you get lucky or something, without telling me, your best friend, about it?"

"One : you're not my 'best friend'," Joey began, ignoring the exclamation of mock-hurt that this statement drew from Otogi. "And two : if I want to call him 'Seto' that's my good right."

"Ah, I see. He calls you 'mutt' so you feel you're entitled to use his first name, as if the two of you were actually friends." Otogi sighed. "Really Joey, when are you ever going to get smart?"

"What the heck's *that* supposed to mean?" Joey demanded. "Are you saying I'm dumb?" Yugi shifted uneasily on his place on the bench, wondering if he should say something, but without a clue as to which words might calm down the blonde. Otogi seemed utterly unconcerned.

"I'd definitely not call throwing yourself at the feet of a guy who treats you like you're less than dirt 'smart', yes," Otogi replied calmly.

"Hah! Care to prove that you're so much smarter in a little game?" Joey grinned, holding up the ball. "Or are you too tired to do anything but talking?"

"I could take you on any time, Wheeler," Otogi answered, rising.

Joey smiled at Yugi, his angry expression vanished as soon as it had appeared. "Feel like playing too, Yug? Just for fun?"

"No thanks," Yugi declined, hopping off the bench. "I still have to return some books to the library. Besides, I'm no good at basketball."

"You know what they say : 'practice makes perfect'." Otogi winked at Yugi, at the same time trying to snatch the ball away from Joey, who ducked and prevented this.

"But if you don't want to, that's cool too. See you this afternoon with Miss Whiney then!" Joey called, as Yugi nodded and walked away.

Lost in thought, he almost missed the person who stood watching Otogi and Joey's friendly match, hidden from view by the shadows of the wall he was leaning against.

"You might pay a bit more attention to where you're going, you know." Blue eyes stared at him coldly. "Perhaps it'd keep you from bumping into people."

Yugi opened his mouth, then thought better of it and limited his response to a nod. No matter what Joey or Otogi said, he didn't feel like getting into any sort of argument with Kaiba. He knew himself well enough to know he'd most likely only end up embarrassing himself.

*****

After two hours of History, a class that was given by the somewhat talkative Miss Hanasu, a drained Yugi walked home, accompanied by Otogi and Joey. By some lucky stroke (Otogi claimed it was because he was Fortune's favorite) the three of them all lived only a few streets apart. 

Otogi lived closest to school, in an apartment over a very popular gameshop in which he had a job for the weekends as well. One day, he had entrusted to Yugi, he would create a game of his own that would become such a smashing success that he'd be able to buy the store for his own and order the manager around who was, according to Otogi, a 'total tyrant'. Plus, the man had made the unforgivable mistake to laugh at Otogi's plans to become a designer of games.

Yugi had quickly discovered that while in general Otogi was very easy-going and rarely lost his temper, the black-haired boy couldn't stand being ridiculed. Anyone who considered Ryuuji Otogi an easy target for their jokes was in for a nasty surprise.

Joey was kind of the opposite of Otogi : as quick to take offense as to forgive and forget. He lived only two streets away from Yugi, in a slightly run-down flat. Other than Otogi, he had never invited Yugi to come over, so Yugi had no idea if the apartment was as bad on the inside as it looked on the outside. For Joey's sake he hoped not.

Though he wasn't sure of it, Yugi thought Joey lived with his father and sister, while Otogi lived on his own, a fact he prided himself in one day, while lamenting it the next. Yugi had to admit he couldn't imagine having to live without anyone else around to come home to. If his grandfather hadn't volunteered to have Yugi live with him, he'd have whined until his parents would have agreed to take him with them, to Egypt.

"So, would you like to come over to my place this afternoon?" Otogi asked. "I've completed the next phase of my game yesterday, so you guys could be the privileged few to be the first to test it." He winked at Yugi, ignoring Joey's muttering.

"Sorry, Otogi, but I promised I'd help my grandfather cleaning," Yugi replied, sincerely regretting he'd miss the opportunity. He had always enjoyed games and puzzles and, in spite of Joey's rather insulting comments, Otogi's game was pretty interesting. 

"Joey?" Otogi looked pleadingly at the blonde, who shook his head.

"If I don't finish that book-report for English this afternoon, I'll be in big trouble. Maybe tomorrow. Or in the weekend." Joey made a helpless gesture with his hands. Otogi pouted.

"With friends like you, I don't need enemies. Ah well, your loss. Enjoy your book-report, mutt! See you tomorrow, Yugi!" With a last grin, Otogi turned around.

~tbc??~


	3. Three

Slam dunk

***

Warnings/notes : AU, Yami/Yugi, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda and possibly slight Bakura/Ryou, oocness.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. 

written at 29th january 2004, by Misura

Thanks to the people who reviewed the second chapter :

To killian : Well, it *is* Seto, you know. He's stubborn. ^^; Hope you'll like the 'more'!

To Hillary : Hmm, it'll probably be another one or two chapters. Thank you! :)

To Star Light Shadow : I'll do my best. Thank you! ^_^

To Carmen5-Nemrac : You said the magical word so ... thank you! :)

To DarkShadowFlame : Sorry, no Yugi in this chapter. Though there *is* a bit of Yami. ^_^; Hope you'll like it! Thank you!

Yami : Nice to have a fan. ^_^

To Suppis Tenshi : More Yami coming up. Yugi's debut will be a while, but I'm working on it. ^^; Thank you very much! ^_^

To Ryasha : Thank you, I'll do my best! :)

To HieiTheLostSoul : Sure looks that way, doesn't it? ~.^ Thank you! :)

To BlueEyesjammys15 : Thank you! ^_^;

To Jackie : Thank you very much for the encouragement! (Dare I ask who/what Nikantropov is? *coughs* ^^; Just curious ... ). I'll do my best to finish this fic ... eventually. ^_^

To Kiawna : Yes, poor Joey! Though at least he gets to glomp Seto. That should make up a bit, ne? ^^; Thank you! :)

To Miami-chan : Say 'please'? ^^;

To DerangedButMagic : Uhm, no, he's just being a shy, dutiful teenager I think. ^^; Thank you! :)

To Koishii No Tenshi : Yami's not a donkey, I promise. Next chapter should explain a few things about why he acts a little ... unsympathetic sometimes I hope. ^^; Thank you! :)

To Silentia : Yugi's talent will remain hidden for a while, mostly because I planned some other stuff first. ^^; Glad you don't mind Otogi designing games in this AU too. Thank you very much! ^_^

To Seto-Kaiba's-fan : Glad you like your competitor! ~.^ Thank you! :)

To Kaira-chan : Well, one might wonder who's stalking whom here. ^^; Glad to hear you like the way I wrote Otogi ; I like writing him like that. ^_^ Thank you!

To duenna : I'll try to update every Monday. Thank you! :)

To s.h.i.r.o.i.k.e.t.s.u.e.k.i : Being evil's going to be one of my unfulfilled ambitions I fear. ^^; Thank you very much! ^_^

To Sansi : Thank you, I'll do my best. :)

To hieiandkuramalover : Honda, Ryou and Bakura are going to be introduced ... at some point. Probably. ^^; Thank you! :) (PS Do I want to know who Karasu is? ^^;)

To Leaf Zelindor : Thank you! :)

To Pikpik246 : Say 'please'? ^^;

To Temptress Nagisa : I'll do my best, thank you! :)

To Romennar : Not much romantic action yet, sorry. These things take time! ^^; Thank you!

To foxfiregurl1002 : Glad you like the way I wrote Yami! : )

To Grimmy : *blushes* Thank you! Slash … well, it's going to be shounen-ai. Does that count? ^_^;

To Sleep Walking Funky Chicken : Yes, poor Otogi, ne? But he'll get something to cheer him up soon! ~.^ Thank you!

To Yugi-obsessed : Thank you!

To EternalDarkFlame : Thank you! ^_^

To Icy Flame : Thank you very much! Though the idea of basketball was Kaira-chan's not mine. ^_^

To Cicatrice : Well, you never know what might happen. Fanfiction.net could decide to go weird on me, for example. But I'll do my best to continue and, eventually, finish! ^_^ Thank you!

To Digimagic : Thank you very much! ^_^

**********

Joey sighed, gnawing on his pen and checking the clock for what had to be the tenth time in half an hour. His book-report was nowhere near finished, but he was bored. He felt like he could fall asleep any moment if he'd force himself to keep writing it.

"I just need a little break, something to make me feel awake again," Joey reasoned with himself. His gaze wandered around the room, lingering on the basketball that was lying in a bag near the door, practically screaming at him to pick it up and go outside for a bit of practice.

"There's plenty of time to do the rest of that stupid book-report when I get back." Joey grinned, closing his books with a snap. He'd probably regret the action later, since he hadn't left any book-mark in them, but right now he didn't care much.

Grabbing the ball and his jacket in passing, he sprinted down the stairs. A quick peek into the living room told him his father was fast asleep on the couch, in front of the TV, so that nicely spared him the trouble of having to explain anything. With luck, his absence wouldn't even be noticed.

Sometimes it bothered him how little attention his father paid to him, yet tonight it came in quite handy. And he was used to it anyway.

Joey whistled softly, walking to the basketball-field near school. He hoped there'd be some other people, though he could amuse himself on his own as well. Still, he liked playing in company better. Basketball was supposed to be a team-sport after all, no matter how a certain tri-colored boy tried to pretend otherwise.

*****

" 'Describe how the different characters in the book interact with each other and show how this interaction reflects the age in which the book has been written, using quotes.' Who the heck comes up with questions like these?" Otogi sighed, listlessly leafing through the book he had picked.

Or rather : the book that had been picked for him by their teacher, Miss Honai, since the book he had wanted to read had been judged to be 'insufficiently educative' for Literature. He was sure she was just picking on him. 

All right, so maybe she had been right about his original choice not belonging to the height of classic literature. Still, that didn't mean she had to assign the thickest and most boring book to him instead. 

He could have used the time spent on reading through this monstruosity much better. Of course, he hadn't told her that outright, though he *had* protested that he had to train for the upcoming basketball match. She hadn't been impressed with that.

In fact, that objection had appeared to make her even less inclined to change her mind. Perhaps she didn't like sports, Otogi mused sourly. He had to admit he couldn't really picture her on a basketball-field. 

"I can't even remember the *names* of the main-characters, let alone the manner of their 'interaction'!" Otogi groaned. "What's that question supposed to mean anyway? They were just talking a whole lot. Does that count as 'interacting'?" If it did, he had the answer to at least the second half of the question. And he couldn't think of any reason why it *wouldn't*.

Maybe it wasn't the way she had *wanted* him to answer, but it wasn't *his* fault the question was so vague, was it? Now, he'd just have to find some names and he'd be done with this report. Perhaps he'd even have some time to work on his game!

Considerably cheered up, Otogi quickly scribbled down some names. He couldn't really recall how important they had been in the story, but at least he'd have something to prove he had completed the assignment as instructed. That ought to be enough to make him pass Literature, if only with a meagre C or D. It wasn't like he cared. Merely passing the course was good enough for Otogi, at least when it came to Literature.

*****

There was only one person playing basketball as Joey arrived, the sound of his dribbling interrupted when he took a shot at the basket, the ball almost soundlessly falling through. For anyone else, Joey would have applauded. That he didn't do so now wasn't because he didn't admire the skill needed for the feat that had just been performed, but rather because he knew the one who had performed it wouldn't appreciate it.

Yami might be cocky and arrogant, but for some reason, he hated to be fawned over. Or perhaps, Joey amended, he merely liked to *pretend* he didn't like all the attention he got. After all, it was Yami's own doing that he was noticed so much. If he'd simply tune down his achievements a bit and stopped being so obsessive over being the best at everything, Yami could have been just another student, as much left alone as he wanted to.

"Are you going to stare at me for the rest of the evening or did you come here to actually *play*?" Yami's cool voice interrupted Joey's thoughts. His ruby eyes were gazing at Joey, challenging him to come over. A ball of much better quality than Joey's was lying in Yami's hands, prompting Joey to drop his bag in the grass next to the field, making a mental note not to forget it later. He had saved his lunch-money for months to be able to afford the thing.

"You wish. Prepare to be crushed by a *real* basketball-star, amateur!" Joey grinned. He knew he wasn't as good as Yami (and probably never would be either) and Yami knew it too, but it was fun to joke around a bit. If Yami had one flaw, it was that he laughed or even smiled so little.

"Says who?" Yami snorted, tossing the ball at him. Joey caught it easily, dribbling a short distance before throwing it back.

"Says me." Joey struck a pose. Yami chuckled and lifted the ball in his hands, seemingly effortlessly sending it through the basket again.

"Big words. What about your book-report? I thought you were going to spend this evening on finishing it. Or rather, knowing you, starting it."

Joey shrugged. "It's halfway done. Unlike *some* people, I can't study for hours in a row and finish my homework for a whole month in one weekend."

"You're never going to let me forget that, are you? Me and my big mouth." Yami sighed. "Listen, Joey, I don't want to lecture you or something, but if you plan your assignments a little in advance, instead of putting them off till the last moment, you'd - "

"If you don't want to lecture me, then don't. I didn't come here to be lectured anyway. I came here to play basketball," Joey interrupted him, slightly annoyed. For a few seconds, he thought Yami was going to finish his little preaching anyway, but then Yami's eyes hardened.

"As you wish." 

~tbc?~


	4. Four SAP!

Slam dunk

****

Warnings/notes : AU, Yami/Yugi, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda and possibly slight Bakura/Ryou, oocness.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. 

written at 4th february 2004, by Misura

Thanks to the people who reviewed the third chapter :

To Grimmy : Thank you! Slash ... well, it depends on your definition, like I said in my earlier reply. :)

To Leaf Zelindor : Well, at least Otogi'll have his report finished. ^^; Thank you! :)

To Kaira-chan : I hope you'll also like the Yami-parts in this chapter. I think they're a bit ... sappy? cliche? but ... Anyway, thank you very much! ^_^

To DarkShadowFlame : Hmm, I'm afraid that isn't going to happen too soon. Though Joey'll do his best, from time to time. ^_^; I hope you'll like what I did to/with Yami in this chapter as well. Thank you very much! 

To Yugi-obsessed : Uhm, within the next three chapters. I hope. ^^; Thank you! :)

To Kaneda-Shotaro and Yami Tetsuo : Thanks, I did. :)

To EnternalDarkFlame : I'll try to update every Monday. Thank you. :)

To DerangedButMagic : Thank you! :)

To Koishii No Tenshi : Thanks, I did my best. :)

To Star Light Shadow : Thank you! :)

Bakura : I take that bet! ^_^ *If* I were in this story, that is. -_-;

To Suppis Tenshi : Sorry, it's all Joey's fault that Yugi's going to have to wait some more. ^^; Well, and mine for getting sidetracked. Thank you very much ; I hope this chapter'll live up to your expectations. ^_^

To Anime Crazed : Thank you, I did my best. :)

To invisible-eyes : Yami ... will get a nice surprise in the form of Yugi. ~.^ Thank you! :)

To Digimagic (and Sarah) : Thank you! (I like Seto/Joey too, can you guess? ~.^) :)

To Kiawna : Sorry to hear you don't like the way I wrote Yami thus far. I'll try tuning it down a bit, but basically, I do consider him to be in possession of quite a lot of self-confidence. ^_^; Thanks.

To Sleep walking funky chicken (Strings, Sarah and Pegasus) : It's good to be inspired, isn't it? Thank you. :)

To Seto-Kaiba's-fan : You know Joey too well. ^_^; Thank you! :)

To Carmen5-Nemrac : You spoke the magical word so ... thanks. :)

To Romennar : Thank you! :)

Otogi : Also for the sympathy. ^_^

To Miami-chan : You spoke the magical word. Twice, even. So, here it is ... hope you'll like it! :) 

To Pikpik246 : o.O;

**********

It was ten o'clock in the evening by the time Yami called it a night and suggested for Joey to go home and finish his book-report. Well, what he actually said was that he got bored of playing against someone as untalented as Joey, but the blonde knew Yami didn't mean for his words to be taken literally.

So he had, grumblingly, agreed, insulting Yami's stamina and calling Yami a coward for not daring to keep on playing when he was getting tired and thus might actually be no better than a normal human. Which statements Yami had chosen not to dignify with any reply, instead wishing him a 'pleasant evening and good luck with that book-report'.

Joey had to admit the tri-colored boy had a point in that last thing. He'd need a great deal of good fortune if he wanted to finish the report at a decent time. Maybe it hadn't been very smart to go out *before* he had been done with it after all. Though it had been fun to play one-on-one with Yami ...

When he wasn't around other people, Yami was a lot more fun, allowing himself to just relax. The whole 'why' of this was a mystery to Joey, but he had grown to accept it, more or less. He'd still try to get Yami to become a bit more social, to meet new people. He hadn't had much of a result to show for his efforts thus far, aside from one or two days of being completely ignored by Yami, but Joey hadn't given up just yet.

Otogi usually said Joey liked challenges (at least, when he was in a good mood. More often he simply called Joey 'insane', 'unrealistic' or 'stubborn'), which was, in a way, pretty much the truth, Joey supposed. Though personally, he liked to think he also did the things he did because Yami *deserved* to have more friends, just like Seto *deserved* to be glomped. Because once you got to know them, those two really weren't as bad as they seemed.

Not that he exactly *knew* anything about Seto that proved the brunette wasn't every bit the bastard Otogi often proclaimed him to be but ... his heart told him it was true.

"Man, I'm sounding like one of those pulp romances. And I'm wasting time. Hmm, let's see, question number sixteen : 'Describe how the different characters in the book interact with each other and show how this interaction reflects the age in which the book has been written, using quotes.' What the heck do they mean with *that*? I wonder if Otogi's still awake. I could call him ... "

*****

Seto stared at the now empty basketball-court. Or rather, at the bag lying in the grass next to it, seemingly completely forgotten by its owner. Joey Wheeler. The mutt.

He honestly hadn't gone for a walk with the intention of yet another spying-session on the blonde who took such delight in chasing and jumping him. Rather the opposite in fact ; he had hoped to clear his head of the puppy in the cool night-air. At home, everything seemed to make him think of Joey.

His computer, which he had used to look up every scratch of information on the mutt he could find, his bed, which was the only silent witness to his less-than-chaste dreams involving Joey, the book he had been trying to read, in which a dog saved a young boy's life ... it was all very annoying and embarrassing and definitely not something he'd ever discuss with anyone else, but there it was.

It had driven him out of the mansion, after which his feet had betrayed him by carrying him to Domino High, since his thoughts had been too jumbled to think of any other destination. He should have been smart enough to turn back at seeing there were people playing basketball, instead of sauntering over for a closer look.

Once he'd seen Joey, he hadn't been able to turn away anymore. Not until the mutt had left, talking to Yami as if they were the closest of friends. Or even, Seto's mind supplied ruthlessly, a little more than friends. Not that he'd mind or anything if it was true, Seto assured himself. If the mutt wanted to rut about with icicle Yami, that was his mistake. No business of Seto's at all. 

"Idiot mutt," Seto growled, picking up the bag against his better judgment. He had no idea what he was going to do with it, how he was going to return it without alerting Joey to the fact that he had been watching him and Yami. But he did know the thing was valuable to Joey. He couldn't leave it, pretend he hadn't seen it. "Stupid fool."

Walking home, he wondered if he was speaking of himself or Joey.

*****

Even if he ought to be used to coming home to a cold, dark house, Yami still felt a stab of hurt as he turned the key in the lock and walked into the hall, turning on the lights. For some reason, he could never quite stop hoping his parents would be there, not having told him they'd return earlier to surprise him. They never had done anything like that. They probably never would do anything like that either, because the thought that Yami might like such a thing would never cross their minds, he thought.

What Yami would or wouldn't like didn't seem to cross his parents' mind very often period. Oh, they probably tried, he didn't doubt that for a moment, but they never *asked* him anything, so mostly they did stuff that only made him feel worse, rather than better.

When he had been aged twelve, it had been gifts. A new one every week, arriving by air-mail, accompanied by a hastily scribbled note to tell him they loved him. Which he found hard to believe, really, considering he mainly knew his parents by the portrait standing on his nightstand. He couldn't remember a time when they'd really been a 'family', the way those sappy commercials showed it.

It would have turned him into a depressed, quiet teenager. If he'd cared.

Yami didn't care anymore. Everything was so much more easy that way, much less painful. And so the weekly gifts had been replaced by monthly cards, before those in turn were replaced by a phone-call every two months, if he was lucky. Last time, his father had said he was proud of Yami acting so 'grown-up' and 'mature'. His monthly allowance had been raised and it had been another four months until the next phone-call.

~tbc?~


	5. Five

Slam dunk

*****

Warnings/notes : AU, Yami/Yugi, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda and possibly slight Bakura/Ryou, oocness.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. All similarities between books and authors mentioned in this chapter and real ones are purely coincidental.

written at 7th february 2004, by Misura

Thanks to the people who reviewed the fourth chapter :

To hieiandkuramalover : ^_^ Thank you! Also for hugging Yami. He needs it ... ~.^

To duenna : Thank you, I'll do my best. ^_^

To Leaf Zelindor : Thank you! Also on behalf of Yami. ^_^

To Sansi : Yugi's very good at helping people, rest assured. Thank you! ^_^

To Kaira-chan : Awww, would I do that to Joey and Otogi? ^^; Seto's simply talented at anything. Well, nearly anything. ~.^ Thank you! ^_^

To Seto-Kaiba's-fan : Joey will be pleased to hear someone agreeing with him. Thank you! ^_^

To Miami-chan : Yugi made his homework, like the good student he is. Thank you! ^_^

To Anime-Ali : -_- I spent three *days* to come up with a plot that wouldn't make Yami another orphan while still keeping him free of parental supervision! But thank you anyway! ^_^;

To Suppis Tenshi : You know me too well. ^^; Thank you very much! ^_^

To EnternalDarkFlame : Thank you! Sorry for being one day late with this chapter ... ^_^

To UnknownDarkMystery : They're uhm somewhere. *coughs* Sorry. Still looking for a good moment to introduce them. ^^; Thank you! ^_^

To Star Light Shadow : One day late, sorry. Thank you very much! ^_^

To Koishii No Tenshi : Well, Yugi was dutifully doing his homework. Not too interesting to read about I thought ... ^^; Thank you! ^_^

To Sugar-Kat : Uhm, haven't even *heard* of Eric Walter, sorry. ^^; Concerning your request ... would you mind waiting until I've finished this fic? I mean, it *is* somewhat central to my plot ... Thank you very much for liking the fic! ^_^

To Kiawna : It just *seems* that way? ~.^ Thank you! ^_^

To DarkShadowFlame : *ponders for a while* Self-assured? (For Yami I mean). It's actually just another way to say 'confident' ... I think I've Mokuba-ized Joey a little in this fic. But it's a lot of fun to write him like that, so I'm glad to hear you like to read him that way too. Thank you very much! ^_^

To Carmen5-Nemrac : One day behind schedule, sorry. Thank you! ^_^

To DerangedButMagic : Thank you! *blushes* Also for huggling Yami! ^_^

To Little Miss Raven-chan : *blushes* Thank you very much! ^_^

To Digimagic (and Sarah) : Thank you very much, also on behalf of Yami. ^_^ I love writing Seto/Joey so I'm glad you enjoy them too.

To Yugi-obsessed : Thank you, also on behalf of Yami. ^_^

To A. Hailan : Thank you very much for your kind comments. ^_^ Honda ... well, as you probably noticed he hasn't even been *mentioned* in the fic yet. I do have a role for him though, so I hope to introduce him shortly, hopefully to your liking. ^_^

To Romennar : Uhm, sorry, not much Seto/Joey-ness yet. But I'm working on it, promise! Thank you! ^_^

To Pikpik246 : Ah. Well, glad to see you at least took the time to say something. Thank you!

Chapter warning : teacher-bashing (-_-;;; Sorry. I know there are really nice teachers too.)

**********

" 'And what cheap excuse do you have for me *this* time, young man?' " Otogi mimicked, grinning at Joey and shaking his head sadly. "I thought you were going to work on it all evening yesterday?"

"I *tried*," Joey sputtered, "but it was such a *boring* book. I only took a short break, but then it had gotten really late all of a sudden and then I was too tired to finish it."

"Typical." Anzu rolled her eyes. "If you'd paid a bit more attention during class, you'd know what books are interesting. Of course, you could also have started on the assignment a bit earlier. After all, we got it two weeks ago."

"I paid enough attention to know that there *aren't* any books that won't bore me to death that are also considered to be 'Literature' by Miss Hanoi." Joey looked sour. He had honestly intended to finish his report over breakfast, only he had overslept. That could happen, right? It was completely unfair that he should be punished for a simple misfortune by a bad mark.

"Well, I thought *my* book was pretty good," Yugi offered shyly, his cheeks turning red as three pairs of eyes were turned in his direction.

"Really? Which did you pick?" Joey asked curiously.

"Uhm ... 'The marvelous adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow' by Jonathan Steadfast, I think. It was about pirates." His grandfather had recommended the book to him, fishing it from some dusty shelf with the remark that he had read it many times during his childhood.

"That sounds actually cool." Joey sighed. "Mine was about ... uhm ... some guy wanting to marry some girl. Only their families didn't want them to, so they ran away. Like I said, it was all very boring."

"It sounds rather romantic." Anzu looked interested. "Do you remember the title?"

"Nope sorry." Joey shrugged.

"Speaking of a bad memory ... " Anzu muttered. 

Otogi chuckled. "Joey's memory's simply selective. I bet he can recall the time at which he has another class with Kaiba just perfect."

"I doubt if you'll find anyone stupid enough to take that bet." Anzu snorted.

*****

As the afternoon crept past, Yugi noted that Joey seemed to be a lot less cheerful than usual, his eyes only lighting up when Kaiba walked past his table in History-class. The brunet didn't look right or left, ignoring everyone and everything around him, heading straight for a spot at the other end of the room. Yugi thought there probably wasn't any place to be found further away from Joey's.

"See? He does like me!" Joey grinned happily at Yugi.

"Uhm ... " Yugi didn't really want to argue with the blonde. Or crush his hopes, should that be possible. Otogi's frequent disparaging remarks didn't appear to affect Joey in any way.

"He could have taken a whole lot of other routes to his own desk, but he picked the one that went past mine." Joey nodded. "Cute, isn't he?"

There were quite a lot of adjectives Yugi might use to describe Seto Kaiba. 'Cute' wasn't one of them, really. 

"If you say so ... " Maybe Joey knew something he didn't. Yugi was still kind of new here, after all. Otogi nor Anzu had said anything about Joey and Kaiba ever having been closer than they were at present, but that might be simply because the subject hadn't really come up. Whenever Joey began about his favorite topic, someone else, mostly Otogi, would tell him to shut up.

Joey chuckled. "Don't let that icy exterior of his fool you, Yug. Deep down inside, he's just a shy guy. But one day, I'll break down that wall of his ... "

Yugi considered that Kaiba sure did a great job at hiding his shyness. If Joey was right, that was.

"Will you be going to Otogi's this afternoon, to test his game? I don't think we have much homework to do for tomorrow."

"I don't think I've got much of a choice." Joey winked at Yugi. "After already having let him down yesterday, he's probably going to drag me along in chains if I say 'no' again. When it comes to that game of his, he's as obsessed as he accuses me to be."

There wasn't much Yugi could say to that. Since the teacher chose exactly that moment to call for silence, the trouble of thinking up a diplomatic answer to Joey's last statement.

*****

"All right, spill it, Joey! Why have you been looking like someone ate your lunch all day?" Otogi asked, voicing the question that had been bothering Yugi all day. Otogi's phrasing was a bit straighter to the point than Yugi's would have been, had he found the opportunity and the courage to talk to Joey about the subject though.

Joey mumbled something. Yugi wasn't able to make out many specific words. Something about a ball?

"What's *wrong* with you?" Otogi stopped walking, to stare at Joey with a certain accusation in his expression. "What has happened to the guy who proudly yelled at me that he was in love with Kaiba and that I could go jump in the river for thinking that was the most stupid thing I had ever heard?"

"This has got *nothing* to do with Seto. Geez. It's as if you think he's all I can think about!" Joey rolled his eyes.

Otogi for once refrained from confirming that yes, he did indeed think that. "All right then, speak up some more loudly. What's bugging you? I promise I won't laugh, whatever it is."

Joey studied his face suspiciously, before shrugging. "I've lost my basketball."

Otogi blinked. Yugi observed that there was no hint of amusement in his green eyes. Just a bit of confusion and a spark of what might be sympathy. "How? Where?"

Joey bit his lip, looking a little nervous. Or, Yugi realized at his next words, a little guilty. "Well, I went to play a bit of basketball last night ... you know, just to take a bit of a break from the book-report ... "

"Last night?" Otogi narrowed his eyes. "When you were 'too busy' to come over to test my game?"

"Erh ... it was only ... " Joey began, backing down a few steps as Otogi glared at him accusingly.

"You are *dead*, Joey Wheeler!" Otogi shrieked. He sounded, Yugi considered, like someone who was either very, very mad or someone who was trying hard not to laugh. Perhaps, knowing Otogi, it was both.

Hastily stepping out of the way as Joey yelped and spurted away, with Otogi in hot pursuit, Yugi musingly thought that his two new best friends were definitely a bit odd sometimes. He wasn't too worried about Otogi seriously going to try to murder Joey and he had to admit that Otogi did have some reason to be angry with the blonde. Thus, instead of trying to help either of them, Yugi sauntered on to the gates of the school-terrain, knowing Otogi and Joey would catch up with him eventually.

Walking past the baskteball-court, hidden from view by a few bushes, he heard the sound of someone dribbling, the ball hitting the ground in a steady rhythmn that ended abruptly, followed by a thud that Yugi guessed to be caused by the ball having dropped through the basket and falling down again.

Driven by curiosity, he strolled over to where he would be able to see the person playing. Perhaps it was Anzu or one of her friends.

~tbc~

A/N : *grins* Not too hard to guess who Yugi's mysterious basketball-player is going to be, is it? ~.^ Yes, if all goes well, next chapter should *finally* be the one in which Yugi discovers his 'hidden' talent. ^_^


	6. Six

Slam dunk

******

Warnings/notes : AU, Yami/Yugi, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda and possibly slight Bakura/Ryou, oocness.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. 

written at 17th february 2004, by Misura

Thanks to the people who reviewed the fifth chapter :

To youko-moon : Yup, Yami's going to be surprised. ~.^ Thank you!

To Leaf Zelindor : Otogi will get his revenge, don't worry. Thank you! ^_^

To Digimagic (and Sarah) : *is glomped and can't type* ^_^; Thank you! Please don't spill the beans on who's got Joey's ball! I want to keep it a surprise for him. :)

To Lethe Seraph : I've mostly based 'my' Otogi on the DDM-episodes, probably fluffed up a bit. So I'm not sure if he's ic, but well, I love writing him like this. Thank you very much! :)

To Kaira-chan : Ah yes, Honda. *scribbles something in her plot-planner* I like writing Otogi and Joey as friends, really. Their characters seem ... compatible. Or maybe I just write them like that. ^^; Thank you very much! ^_^ 

To A. Hailan : Sorry, no Seto in this chapter. Just Otogi, Yugi, Joey and Yami. ^^; Otogi is, next to Mokuba, my favorite character, most of the time. I think it shows in my writing, making me portray him somewhat ooc, but I'm glad to hear you like him. Thank you! ^_^

To Suppis Tenshi : Yugi is innocence personified. And cuteness. ^^; Joey ... might get a bit worse before he gets better. But he'll cheer up a bit in this chapter too. Thank you very much! (Oooh, plushies!) ^_^

To EnternalDarkFlame : Sorry, my inspiration's limited. Thank you, I did my best! :)

To UnknownDarkMystery : *checks plot-planner* Uhm ... define 'soon'? ^^; Thank you! :)

To Yugi-obsessed : Thank you! :)

To Nekostar 2 : Thank you, I did my best. :)

To Star Light Shadow : Well, considering his popularity, someone *might* write a book about him, ne? Plenty of fanfics already. ^^; Thank you! ^_^

To Koishii No Tenshi : Wouldn't you, if Seto was in your class? ^^; Thank you!

To Johnny-Depp-Luv : Sorry, no Seto in this chapter. Perhaps the next one ... Thank you! :)

To Taz-San : Thank you I did my best ... are you all right again now? ^^;

To Seto-Kaiba's-fan : Excepting the readers, of course. ^^; Thank you!

To Kiawna : You're clairvoyant. ^^; Thanks! :)

To Sleep walking funky chicken (Sarah, Siya, Strings and Pegasus) : ^^; Thank you! :)

To DarkShadowFlame : Ah yes, Michael Crichton. Brilliant at keeping me up all night reading for just *having* to know how it ends. ^^; I'm sorry to inform you you seriously over-estimated my niceness. Yami will remain moping for quite some time. ^^; Thank you very much! ^_^

To DerangedButMagic : Hmm, would he forget the ending? Maybe. ^^; Thank you! :)

To Sugar-Kat : If you read this, be proud for having accomplished the impossible. ~.^ Thanks!

To Romennar : Thank you!

To Kitty Neko : Yup. Hope you'll like it! Thanks. :) 

To Carmen5-Nemrac : Glad to hear you liked it. : )

To BlueEyesjammys15 (sorry, I think ff.net cut your review ;_;) : Thank you very much! ^_^

To Nekocin : Well, Otogi has recently made it to the second place in my 'List of YuGiOh characters I love'. So I guess that maybe that seeps through a bit in the way I write him. ^^; And well, he's supposed to be adorable after all. Kaiba can't *keep* Joey's basketball. That'd be theft. But how to give it back without … giving it back? He'll think of something, I'm sure. Or else *I* will. Thank you very much for your comments! ^_^ 

**********

When Yugi reached the basketball-court, there was no one around anymore, as far as he could see. The only trace that remained of the person he had heard earlier was a basketball, left lying in the middle of the court.

He picked it up curiously, wondering if he ought to leave it here or turn it in as a 'lost object'. In fact, this might even be Joey's beloved ball, although Yugi assumed the blonde had looked for it here already. Still, maybe it had been found by someone who had wanted to play with it first.

Deciding it would be easiest just to ask Joey, Yugi turned around. To find Otogi standing there, staring at him with a wide grin on his face. Joey was nowhere to be seen, which Yugi took to mean that he had -at least temporarily- escaped Otogi's wrath.

"So ... you *do* play too." Otogi looked smug. Or rather, smugger, considering he always wore an expression that stated he knew things before anyone else. 

"I just found this. Do you know if it's Joey's?" Yugi held up the ball. 

Otogi shook his head. "It's way too expensive. Not school-property either though. Perhaps it's ... nah, that guy probably wouldn't forget something like this."

"Do you think I should bring it back to school?" Yugi asked. He wasn't entirely sure who Otogi had been referring to, but apparently Otogi hadn't wanted to call any names and Yugi wasn't *that* curious anyway.

"I guess." Otogi shrugged. "But not before letting me play with it a bit." His tone of voice made the words more of a plea than a statement.

Yugi bit his lip. "I don't know. What if - "

"Oh, come on, Yug. Just let him fool around a bit. He'll whine at you for the rest of the day if you don't." Joey had appeared on the other end of the court, looking ready to spurt away at Otogi's first wrong move.

"I do not whine!" Otogi whi- protested. Yugi noted he didn't sound too angry anymore, just a little annoyed. "Especially not since you two solemnly promised to come over this afternoon for a bit of game-testing."

"All the more reason to put off going home a bit," Joey chuckled. "Besides, a small game might refresh my mind after all those boring classes."

"You mean you were actually *awake*?" Otogi inquired mockingly. "I thought you were fast asleep during most of them."

Joey glared at him, gesturing for Yugi to throw the ball at him. "I'll let you now just how *awake* I've been all this day. First one with ten points wins?"

"Sounds fine with me," Otogi turned to Yugi. "How about you?"

"I ... " Yugi stammered.

"Don't be a spoil-sport, Yug! We'll go easy on you. And you can have the first shot, since you found the ball." Joey smiled coaxingly. It was practically impossible not to nod agreement.

"All right then." Yugi put down his backpack, placing it carefully next to the exit, where he couldn't possibly forget it. Walking back to where he had been standing before, he stared at the basket, trying to estimate the distance between that and the ball in his hands.

It seemed impossible to throw that far. He didn't stand a chance of scoring. He was too short, just like Yami had said at their first -and only, really- meeting. If you could even call it that.

"Go for it, Yugi! You can do it!" Joey gave him a thumbs-up.

Yugi flushed, feeling his spirits sink even further. It was nice of Joey to be so supportive, but he was sure the blonde's trust was misplaced. He was only going to disappoint Joey, he simply knew it. With a sigh, he refocused on the basket, trying to force it to come closer.

And threw.

*****

Yami sighed, studying the scene that was unfolding on the court with a scowl on his face. He had hoped for Joey to come and find the ball he had 'forgotten' on purpose. The blonde was too honest to keep it, but Yami had hoped the temptation to 'borrow' it until Joey's own had been refound would be too great to resist.

Instead, it had been that small kid who looked a little like himself. Who was too short to ever be good at basketball, too shy to ever speak up for himself and in general too sweet for his own good. 

When Otogi and Joey joined him on the court, apparently intending to play a little basket-ball, Yami found himself sticking around to watch. He didn't have anything important to do anyway, and it might be useful to see what would happen to his ball. He had more than one, of course, but Yami still liked to know whether or not he'd have to think up another ploy to get Joey a new ball.

If truth be told, Yami was feeling a bit guilty about not having reminded Joey not to forget his ball as they parted the previous night. He *knew* Joey could be a little forgetful at times. He should have checked. Yet he hadn't and now someone else had taken Joey's precious basket-ball.

The least he could do was offer a replacement. Without making it *look* like that. In the first place, beause Joey'd refuse a 'pity-gift' (Joey's words, not Yami's) from him and in the second, because he had a reputation to keep.

As Joey hollered encouragements at Yugi, Yami rolled his eyes. Typically Joey, to try to convince people to try for the impossible. Yami himself might have made the shot from where Yugi was standing, but Joey probably wouldn't. Yugi was absolutely chanceless.

The boy seemed to know it too, judging from the expression on his face.

Still, his face became determined a few seconds later, his mouth drawing into a thin line when he launched himself at the basket, the ball flying through the air ...

Yami unconsciously held his breath, studying the graceful arc of the ball as it rose and descended again. Spun around on the rim of the basket for a few seconds, before falling through.

*****

Joey was the first to break the silence. ('Predictably', Otogi would mutter later.)

"If *you* aren't a natural talent for basketball, I am a mutt!" Joey beamed at Yugi.

Otogi snickered. "Coming from you, that's not saying much. But I must agree. You're *good*, Yugi."

Yugi opened his mouth to reply, but Joey interrupted him.

" 'Good'? He's way better than merely 'good'. I bet that even Yami wouldn't have managed to score from that distance! You *have* to come to our next practice, Yug! Why didn't you tell us before that you were this great?"

"It was just luck." Yugi blushed, thoroughly embarrassed. "I'm sure I couldn't do it again."

"Let's see." Otogi retrieved the ball, tossing it at Yugi.

"But - " Yugi began, holding the ball out to Joey.

The blonde shook his head. "You scored, so you get to go again." Noticing the nervous look on Yugi's face he added : "If you manage it again, it'd be fantastic. But if you don't, it's no biggie. Just do your best. Stop being so scared of attention."

"Besides, remember that the sooner this game's over, the sooner we can go play-test my game!" Otogi grinned.

"Oooh, like *that*'s going to motivate him!" Joey grumbled. Otogi's face darkened and he took one threatening step in Joey's direction. The blonde took one step forwards, to show he wasn't impressed by Otogi's display of temper. 

And Yugi threw the ball, relieved at an opportunity without anyone watching him, unaware of the fact that there was still one pair of eyes that was studying him with rapt attention.

And the ball dropped through the basket with a resounding 'thump'.

~tbc~


	7. Seven

Slam dunk

*******

Warnings/notes : AU, Yami/Yugi, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda and possibly slight Bakura/Ryou, oocness.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. 

written at 24th february 2004, by Misura

Thanks to the people who reviewed the sixth chapter  :

To Leaf Zelindor : Yup, but it's all in good fun. Thank you for making my Yugi-muse blush! ^_^

To Kaira-chan : I think you're the first to say that about Yami (but hopefully not the last). Thank you very much! ^_^

To Sleep Walking Funky Chicken (Sarah, Siya, Strings and Pegasus) : ^_^; I'm glad to hear you liked the chapter. My Yugi-muse thanks you for your ardent support.

To Suppis Tenshi : A *Mokuba*-plushie! You are too kind! *beams and huggles plushie, ignoring the deathglare from her Seto-muse* Poor Yami was quite surprised indeed. But he'll get over it, I hope. Thank you! ^_^

To twinklefaerie, Koishii no Tenshi and Macduff's Mistress : Thank you, I hope you'll enjoy this new chapter as well. : )

To Ril : Thank you for cheering! : )

To Seto-Kaiba's-Fan : Great? Hm, I hope you won't be too disappointed then. Thank you! : )

To Anime-Ali : *glomps the Otogi-plushie* Now I just need a Honda one … *coughs* Thank you! ^_^

To Pikpik246 : Only took me six chapters, ne? ^^; Thank you! : )

To Sugar Kat : Saa, don't scare my muses, please! They are doing their best. Thank you! ^_^

To Yugi-obsessed, EternalDarkFlame and Strega : Thanks for cheering for Yugi. And for your encouraging reviews as well. ^_^

To lostlover1 : Thank you very much. ^_^

Seto : I am to be pitied indeed. But what can I say, me and the mutt … we're destined to come together. At least in the mind of Misura … -_-;

Otogi : What about me? Aren't I cute too? ;_;

To Yami's Girl : Sorry, this fic is an AU with oocness. I did warn you. Thank you for the encouraging remarks! : )

To BlueEyesjammys15 : Thank you, I did my best. 

To UnknownDarkMystery : At the end of this chapter, there's a hint at Ryou's arrival. Bakura will only pop up *after* Ryou's actual arrival, so he'll be absent for a little while longer, sorry. Thank you! : )

To Kiawna : Uhm, sorry if this chapter disappoints. Thank you. : )

To Star Light Shadow : Believe me, you're not the only one. *I* want that too. ^^; Ransom? That's an … interesting idea. Thank you! ^_^

To DerangedButMagic and Kitty Neko : Thank you, I did my best. ^_^

To DarkShadowFlame : -_- Thank you very much for those mental images …

Rare Hunter : *moves towards Joey*

Seto : *jumps out of the shadows and practices his karate-moves, as seen in Duelist Kingdom*

Joey : o.O;

… and for the kind praise of the chapter. ^_^

To Nekocin : I hope your wish will be granted! ^_^ Thank you!

To Anonymous : *blushes* Thank you! ^_^

To Icy Flame : 'Play together'? *turns red and giggles* Thank you for *that* mental image. Sorry for not being able to give you a Joey-muse. Mine just popped up one day. ^_^;

**********

Joey whistled a cheerful tune as he walked home, his hands shoved in the pockets of his jacket. He hadn't intended to return home this late, but Yugi's and Otogi's enthusiasm had been catching, and before he knew it, they had agreed to order a pizza for dinner, to be able to keep playing.

Besides, it wasn't as if there was anyone waiting for him. Otogi had offered him the use of his cell-phone to call, which Joey had accepted. He didn't want Otogi or Yugi to get suspicious after all. So he had withdrawn to make the call, waited two minutes and reappeared with a big grin to report it was okay. Which it was, really.

Yugi was almost as crazy about games as Otogi, though he hadn't yet designed any of his own. And now it looked like he also had a talent for basket-ball ...

Joey smiled. Today had been a pretty good day. If only he hadn't lost his ball, it would have been perfect. But, alas, it looked like the person who'd found it hadn't been fair or virtuous enough to turn it in with any of the teachers.

With a sigh, he climbed the stairs to his apartment. Quietly walking inside, he headed for his own room, not really feeling like getting into some shouting-match with his father about him not being home earlier. Odds were, his absence hadn't even been noticed, but Joey preferred not to take any chances.

"Joey? That you?"

Cursing softly, Joey turned. In theory, he *could* pretend he hadn't heard his father. That would be acting as if he was afraid of the man though, and that wasn't the case. 

"Yeah. I was at Otogi's. I already ate there. Sorry if you waited up for me." That last was very unlikely, Joey knew. It was one of the reasons why he hadn't felt too guilty about not calling.

He sauntered into the living-room, unsurprised to see his father nestled in front of the TV, an empty bag of chips and an empty beercan informing him what dinner had consisted of this evening.

"Never mind, never mind. Boys wanna have fun too, eh?" His father grinned broadly. Joey answered the grin cautiously. It was nice to see his father in such a good mood, but he had no idea what had brought it on. "Someone dropped off something for you."

His father pointed at a famliar bag, lying in a corner. Joey sprinted over to it, opening it to check its contents. "Who? And did they tell you where they'd find it?" The bag didn't have any adress or name on it, which meant the finder had to have known it was Joey's. Had to have known where Joey lived too. There weren't too many people who knew that last bit of information.

"He didn't give me any name," his father shrugged. "Just handed over the bag, saying it was yours and that you'd probably want it back. He seemed in a bit of a hurry."

"What did he look like?" Joey asked curiously. Otogi and Yugi were out, since they had been with him all afternoon, but hadn't said a thing about having found the bag. Anzu was out too, since she was a girl, and his father had said 'he' when he described the finder, not 'she'. Yami then?

"Uhm, pretty tall." His father frowned. "Brown hair and blue eyes. He also wore a trenchcoat, a pretty expensive one at that. Is that any help?"

Joey stared at him, his mouth hanging open in a silent 'oh'. *Kaiba* had returned his ball? 

"You know him? One of your friends from school perhaps? He seemed nice enough. A little stiff, but not too bad." His father studied his face, searching for some sort of clue.

Joey shut his mouth, shaking his head. "Yes, he's just someone I know from school. I'll thank him tomorrow."

" 'Just someone'?" His father stared at him slyly. "It looked to me like he wasn't 'just someone'. I thought for a moment he was going to ask me not to tell you anything about him. He got this really weird expression on his face, like he wanted to be anywhere else but here. And then he opened his mouth and I was all ready to reassure him that you weren't going to beat him up or anything for bringing that bag back. But he just left, without another word. That was kind of strange."

"Oh, he definitely *is* a bit strange," Joey mumbled absent-mindedly.

"Well, there's nothing *wrong* with that. That other friend of yours, Otogi, sounds like a bit of a nutcase too. Why don't you invite him over some time?" his father beamed at him.

"Uhm ... I'll think about it. He's rather busy," Joey replied evasively. Rising, he picked up the bag, to put it back into the safety of his room.

*****

The distance was the same, the quality of the ball was the same. Their height too was practically the same. So rationally, Yami should be able to do what Yugi had done.

It didn't matter that it was evening. That just meant there was no sunlight to blind him. It was an advantage, rather than a hindrance.

Yami stared at the basket. It seemed far away. Too far away. He wondered if Yugi had felt like this too.

But Yugi had, in the end, managed the shot. At his first try, possibly even his very first time to play basketball in a long time, if he was to believe Joey and Anzu. For it was impossible that Yugi had never played before at all. *No one* could be so good without any experience to draw on.

Not even a 'natural talent'.

Yami raised his hands, lowered them again. The ball seemed too heavy.

Scowling, he lifted it again. This was downright ridiculous! Here he was, generally acknowledged as the best player in the whole school by far, getting sweaty hands over a simple shot. No one who was yelling at him, no one who was trying to knee him while the referee was looking the other way, no one who was jumping at him ... it should have been a piece of cake.

He threw. He could do anything Yugi could. No, wait, he could do *more* than Yugi could. Yugi had just had a bit of beginner's luck, that was all.

His gaze was glued to the ball as it hit the rebound, spinning on the rim of the basket ... dropped off without falling through.

He'd missed. Again.

***** 

"Yugi? Is something bothering you?" Yugi looked up, to find his grandfather eyeing him worriedly. He shook his head with a faint smile.

"No, I'm fine, really. Sorry for not paying attention. I guess I'm more tired than I thought."

His grandfather smiled back fondly. "Well, I suppose it's been rather busy for you these past few weeks. And I'm sure an old man's babbling's not helping you to keep awake either is it? Though perhaps this once the subject might be of some interest to you."

Yugi blushed crimson. "You're not boring me at all, grandfather! Never!" he protested quickly. "I love hearing your stories about Egypt and those other faraway countries. But especially Egypt. That's where Mom and Dad are, aren't they?"

His grandfather nodded solemnly. "I'm sure they must be missing you a lot, Yugi."

"I miss them too," Yugi sighed. He felt a bit guilty actually. When was the last time he'd thought about his parents? Most of his time seemed to be spent thinking on games and puzzles, in particular Otogi's game and the puzzle of Joey and Kaiba's 'no-relationship'. And now basketball had been added to that list as well.

"But not all day long," his grandfather added softly, as if reading his mind. "That's okay, Yugi. They wouldn't want you to either. They'd want you to have fun and be happy. Maybe even find a girlfriend? No? You seemed pretty taken with Anzu." He chuckled at Yugi's wide-eyed expression.

"Anzu is a good friend. Just like Joey and Otogi," Yugi stammered.

"Oh well, I can always hope, ne?" His grandfather winked.

~tbc~

A/N : Since I won't be on-line during Easter, the next chapter will probably take two weeks to get posted. Sorry.


	8. Eight SAP!

Slam dunk

********

Warnings/notes : AU, Yami/Yugi, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda and possibly slight Bakura/Ryou, oocness.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. 

written at 25th february 2004, by Misura

Thanks to the people who reviewed the seventh chapter! I'm sorry for not putting in any individual responses, but I really wanted to post this today.

**********

"Guess who brought back my ball yesterday?" were the first words Joey spoke when he dropped down in his seat, next to Yugi and Otogi. It was still early, meaning most of the students weren't there yet.

"Kaiba?" Otogi hazarded, an odd note to his voice. Yugi couldn't quite figure out what it was, but he sensed that somehow, Otogi wasn't half as pleased as Joey with the recovery of his ball.

Joey blinked, then grinned. "Yup! How did you know? Anyway, doesn't this prove he's not as bad as you always say he is? He's really a nice guy!"

Otogi sighed. "Listen, Joey, don't you think you're taking this whole obsession just a tad little bit too far? I mean, come on, be reasonable! How could he know it was *your* ball? What would he be doing on the basketball-court late in the evening? How would he be able to find your house?" Ticking off the points on his fingers, Otogi shook his head. "It doesn't add up."

"Well, I must say you *do* have a point," Joey admitted. Yugi eyed him curiously, somewhat surprised at Joey's easy agreement to Otogi's words. "I have been wondering those things too. But well, I guess I'll simply have to ask him, won't I?"

"Right." Otogi rolled his eyes. "All you need to do is ask him and he'll tell you the whole sad and tragic tale of his life."

"I'm not going to try and pry in his past. That's his own business," Joey declared. "I mean, sure, if he wants to share it with me, I'll listen. Unlike *certain* people, I'm not judging a person by first impressions."

"*First* impressions?" Otogi sounded incredulous. "Joey, I've known him for as long as you do. Kaiba is and has always been an anti-social bast- guy. Not 'nice'! Not 'misunderstood'!"

"You know what your problem is? You don't look beyond the surface. You only see the act, the mask," Joey persisted doggedly. "Think of Kaiba like Yugi."

Otogi stared at Yugi, one eyebrow raised. Yugi shrugged helplessly, not quite knowing what Joey was getting at either.

"If you see him sitting there, you wouldn't say he was a natural talent at basket-ball, now, would you? And yet he is. Even Yami would say so," Joey explained.

"You're crazy," Otogi stated. "Not that *that*'s anything new."

Joey shrugged, apparently not insulted. "Think what you want. I'm off to ask Seto a couple of questions. See you guys in History!"

Otogi sighed. "Some people just won't take a hint. And I'm still not sure whether that's a good thing or not."

*****

Seto had seriously considered not going to school this morning. It was true that he didn't really *need* the classes and that practically everything he heard in them was information which he either already knew or would never need, but neither of those things had been his reason for not wishing to attend.

When he was honest with himself, Seto knew there was only one thing that had made him want to stay away. Or rather : one person. Joey Wheeler. The mutt.

Undoubtedly, the blonde would know that it had been Seto who had found and delivered his beloved ball. Joey might not be very bright, yet it didn't take much intelligence to figure *that* out. Which meant Joey would probably want to thank him. At the very least. If Seto was lucky.

More likely though, Joey would consider Seto's action as a sign of caring, of finally having managed to break through his defenses. As a sign of weakness, that he would, consciously or unconsciously, try to exploit.

While Seto was willing to concede that Joey had the best of intentions most of the time, that didn't mean he liked the person Joey tried to turn him into. He hadn't survived this long on his own without learning that to be soft was to be defeated. If Joey was too daft to see that (or, perhaps, hadn't yet experienced that for his own), that wasn't Seto's problem. 

"Seto!"

He sighed, bracing himself. In the end, he had decided he *had* to go. To remain at home would have been the act of a coward.

"Mutt." He turned around, wishing he hadn't. Normally, he ignored Joey, until the other did something that made it impossible to keep doing so. Of all the times he could have chosen to actually encourage the mutt, this was probably the worst.

Stepping sideways with an expression of disdain, to prevent Joey from glomping him, Seto tried to force the blonde to tell him what he wanted by glaring at him. He had a pretty good idea of what had brought on Joey's sudden determination to rumple his clothes, but Seto *hoped* Joey hadn't jumped to any hasty conclusions.

"You finally admit that you love me too!"

Then again, this *was* Joey. Seto sighed. He should have known. He should have come up with a different way to return the ball, except that he hadn't felt comfortable with keeping it too long. And all other methods he had been able to think of hadn't absolutely guaranteed that Joey would actually get the ball. So many small things could go wrong if one depended on others.

Seto would never have forgiven himself if he'd have been responsible for losing or damaging Joey's lost property. However, that didn't mean he was in *love* with Joey, now, did it? Of course not!

"I have no idea what you're rambling about. All I want is for you to leave me alone." Was that a flash of hurt he saw in Joey's eyes? Impossible. He was merely imagining things. "Just because I brought back that worthless toy of yours ... " He practically saw Joey perking up again, the glow returning to those honey-colored eyes. Oddly enough, it made him feel relieved.

"I love you!" Joey's arms were firmly around Seto's waist, before he had seen the hug coming. Joey's face was very close to his own all of a sudden too, while he could nearly feel the warmth of the mutt's body through their clothes.

Soft lips brushed past his cheek in a shy kiss. And then Joey broke away almost guiltily, mumbling something about people waiting for him and turning away. Which wasn't like Joey at all.

It was *Seto* who ended their 'meetings' by walking out on *Joey*, not the other way around. And Joey never, ever kissed him. Glomps, hugs and declarations of love, yes. Kisses, no. 

Wondering what had changed between them -and, more importantly, how he was going to undo that change and get things back to 'normal'- Seto stared after Joey.

The mutt. The puppy. The nuisance that yelled 'I love you!' at him at least once a day, right from the first day the two of them had ever met. *That*, more than anything else, had convinced Seto that Joey was just fooling around. It was silly to believe in love at first sight, which was why Seto didn't do that.

Every time Joey told Seto he loved him, Seto knew it was a lie. Joey wasn't in love with him at all. And if he found out that Seto was starting to like him, even just a little bit, all he would do was make fun of Seto for it.

~tbc~


	9. Nine short

Slam dunk

*********

Warnings/notes : AU, Yami/Yugi, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda and possibly slight Bakura/Ryou, oocness.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. 

written at 29th february 2004, by Misura

Thanks to the people who reviewed the eighth chapter :

To Leaf Zelindor : ^^; Maybe you should feel sorry for Joey too ... Thank you! :)

To Seto-Kaiba's-fan : Hmm, you're not the only one. ~.^

To Sugar-Kat : Say 'please'? ~.^ Thank you!

To Icy Flame : *is glomped* ^_^; Thank you! I enjoyed to write it, even if it was kind of sad ...

To Yugi-obsessed : Don't worry, he'll cheer up soon. Is one week soon? :)

To Strega : That's putting it mildly. ^^; Then again, he's not the only one, ne?

To s.h.i.r.o.i.k.e.t.s.u.e.k.i : Love is blind, you know. ~.^ Thank you! I did my best. ^_^

To Kaira-chan : ^^; You see cuteness in a lot of things. Glad to hear you liked the chapter! To be fair, Seto's attitude nearly makes my head explode. I think I'll have to let Joey do something about it soon ... ^_^

To Cold Hearted IceQueen : Thank you! I hope you'll like this chapter too. :)

To Kiawna : This chapter and the next are all Yami/Yugi's, hope you'll enjoy! Thank you! :) Oh, and please don't whack Seto too hard. Unless you want a mad puppy chasing after you ...

To invisible-eyes : I'm afraid Seto and Joey will struggle on for a while, before seeing the light. Ryou, Bakura and Honda *will* make an appearance ... soonish? Thank you very much! ^_^

To Star Light Shadow : The next chapters will be a bit lacking in that department, so I'm glad you liked it. Thank you! :)

To Sarah Harvey : Poor Kaiba? What about Joey? ^^; Yami and Yugi will star in the next two chapters, hope you'll like them. Thank you! :)

To Alana : Thanks for the enthusiastic encouragement! :)

To Anonymous : Thank you, I'll do my best. :)

To hAdOwCat : Yami and Yugi *should* get some meaningful interaction the coming two chapters. Thank you very much! ^_^

To Kitty Neko : Say 'please'? ~.^

To Anime Crazed : Read and find out! (Well, not this chapter but ... ). Thank you! ^_^

To youko-moon : Seto does have problems, doesn't he? Thank you!

Seto : It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you.

Joey : *glomps Seto* Even if you're paranoid, I still love you. ^_^ I'll make you see the light!

To A. Hailan : Joey ... I have the feeling his character's constantly trying to get away from me. He's definitely too cheerful to be true, but his mask is holding so far. I'm not sure for how much longer, but I'm sure your wish will be granted at some point. ^^; Otogi having a crush on Joey? Who knows? He sure doesn't seem to have one on Honda! (Which you'll find out three chapters from now, if all goes well. ^^;). Thank you very much! ^_^

To DarkShadowFlame : Well, Joey does have a tendency to be slightly ... overwhelming. Paired with Seto's liking for control and order, they're not the easiest of couples. Glad you like their struggles though! Thank you very much. ^_^

To nekomoongirl : ^^; And poor Joey too. Thank you, I did my best. :)

To UnknownDarkMystery : Erhm, no. Just Ryou, who also was that subject that Grandfather thought might be interesting to Yugi. (See? I kept my promise ... kind of. ^^;). Thank you! :)

To Crystal Blaize : Longer? Sorry, can't promise that. But I do aim for weekly updates ... Thank you! :)

To Suppis Tenshi : Ryou, Bakura and Honda are coming up, I promise. But I have planned in some Yami/Yugi first so ... Thank you very much! ^_^

To The Chaotic Ones : Can an ice-cube get burnt? Thank you! :)

To Ril : I will, thank you! : )

To DerangedButMagic : Thank you, I'll do my best. : )

**********

When Yugi arrived home, he found his grandfather waiting for him, looking ready to depart. 

"Is something wrong?" Yugi asked, slightly alarmed. Then another possibility occured to him. "Have Mom and Dad come back unexpectedly for a surprise-visit?"

His grandfather blinked, shaking his head. "No, to both of your questions. I promised to pick up young Ryou, remember? He arrives at the airport this evening."

Yugi stared at him blankly. "Ryou?"

"Yes, Ryou." His grandfather sighed exasperatedly. "The grandson of my friend and former colleague whom I told you about yesterday."

Yugi flushed guiltily. "Oh. I guess I missed that. Sorry, grandfather."

The old man chuckled, fondly ruffling Yugi's hair. "That's okay, Yugi. I know you've got a lot on your mind with your new school and friends. Though I do hope you'll find some spare time to show Ryou around a bit. From what I remember, he's a rather shy boy. He could use a friend."

"Sure!" Yugi promised eagerly. "And I'm sure Joey and Anzu'd be more than happy to give him a tour as well. They're much more familiar with everything than I am."

His grandfather smiled. "That's good to hear, Yugi." He rose. "I'd better be leaving now then. I'll probably be back by ten, but you don't need to stay up for me. There's dinner in the microwave."

Yugi nodded. "Will Ryou be staying with us? Can I prepare a room for him?" He was still feeling a bit guilty about not having paid more attention last night. Besides, he didn't have much homework to do and without his grandfather around to play games with or talk to, there wouldn't be much to do.

"There'll be no need for that. His father has rented an apartment for him near school. I've been told it's not too big or luxurious, but Ryou apparently declared he'd like to have some privacy and rather not 'bother' anyone." Yugi's grandfather snorted. "Ah well, it's his choice I suppose."

Yugi tried to imagine living on his own, without anyone to take care of him, without anyone to come home to ... It seemed dreadfully lonely. He couldn't picture anyone being happy living like that.

On the other hand, it was logical that Ryou didn't agree to stay with people he hadn't met for ages right away. In time though, Yugi was sure he'd be able to convince the other boy. It'd be nice to have someone else to keep him company aside from Grandfather, someone more his own age.

****

At eight o'clock, Yugi was finished with his homework for the next two days and getting a bit bored. There still were some puzzles he hadn't solved yet lying on the shelves over his desk, but merely *looking* at them was enough to give him a headache.

Yugi decided he wanted something easy to entertain him. Something that wouldn't require him to do a lot of thinking, but that would still be able to keep his mind occupied.

Something like ... basketball? Joey had told him there would be try-outs for the team soon and Yugi had solemnly promised to participate in them, even if he didn't share Joey's trust in his talents. Unless he wanted to appear a complete fool though, he ought to do some practicing.

While Yugi didn't own a ball of his own, both Joey and Anzu had assured him there nearly always was someone to be found at the basketball-court who was willing to play *and* in possession of a ball he or she was willing to share.

'After all,' Otogi had remarked jokingly, 'you new ones aren't the only ones who need to shape up for the try-outs. We older and more experienced players also want to hone our skills to make sure we look better than you.'

The more he thought about it, the more the idea to go to the basketball-court appealed to Yugi. It would be nice to see Otogi, Anzu or Joey again, even if he had seen them in school today already. And he *had* given his word to do some training after all.

The only thing that bothered him a little was that there was no way to let his grandfather know where he was, except for leaving a note. What if Grandfather called with some urgent message while he wasn't at home? Would Grandfather even approve of him going out all alone this late in the evening?

*****

Yami boredly watched the ball drop through the basket for what seemed to be the hundredth time that evening. His dark mood had chased away all other people who had been at the court when he'd arrived, leaving him alone with nobody to take his annoyance out on.

It might have been different if Joey had been there, or even Otogi, who had his rare moments of intelligence and empathy. Unfortunately for Yami though, it seemed both of his 'friends' (Joey's term, not his) were too busy with other things.

And so he was stuck with what had to be the worst of company : himself.

Yami sighed. He hadn't attempted to copy Yugi's shot again. He told himself it was because it would be pointless, because the two of them simply had different techniques and that he couldn't expect to be able to do something simply because Yugi could.

Retrieving the ball, he noticed a small figure hovering near the entrance of the court as if afraid to enter. He had sensed someone watching him before, but he had assumed it was just one of the regular players, who would depart and leave him alone if he would ignore them long enough. Apparently he had been wrong.

Driven by a slightly sadistic desire to see Yugi proven not to be so good at all, Yami threw the ball in his direction, fully expecting the boy to be taken by surprise and fail to catch it. Instead though, Yugi caught the ball perfectly, sending Yami a shy, hesitant smile as if asking for a confirmation of his having succeeded.

Yami scowled at him, refusing to give his opponent -for that was what Yugi was now- that kind of satisfaction. He already regretted having given Yugi the opportunity to humiliate him yet again.

"Are you going to play, or do you want us to keep staring at each other for the rest of the night?" Yami inquired, suppressing a slight rush of guilt at seeing Yugi flinch. Perhaps he should try to keep his temper in check a little, even if it *was* Yugi who had caused it.

Yugi made no verbal reply, tossing the ball back. Or rather *trying* to throw the ball back to Yami. Apparently Joey's 'natural talent' had underestimated the force required to span the distance between him and Yami, causing the ball to fall short, rolling to a halt at Yami's feet.

The bright blush that colored Yugi's cheeks smothered any sarcastic remarks that Yami might have made otherwise.

"I'm s-sorry." 

~tbc~


	10. Ten

Slam dunk

**********

Warnings/notes : AU, Yami/Yugi, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda and possibly slight Bakura/Ryou, oocness.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. 

written at 4th march 2004, by Misura

Thanks to the people who reviewed the ninth chapter :

To Johnny-Depp-Luv : In the future? ^^; And most of my other fics, of course. ~.^

To Leaf Zelindor : Oh, Yami'll be very nice to him. A little too nice, even ... ^_^;

To Icy Flame : Bakura's location is unknown, even to me, for the moment. I'm sure Ryou's presence will lure him out in the open though. ~.^ I like the idea of a bet - or a striptease! - but ... well, you'll see. Thank you very much! ^_^

To Ril : Sorry, no Ryou in this chapter. Thank you! :)

To Suppis Tenshi : Hope you'll enjoy the more! Thank you! :)

To Seto-Kaiba's-fan : ^^; Thanks for the vote of confidence. :)

To Hidden Dreams : ^^; Sorry.

To Sugar-Kat : You spoke the magical word so ... thank you! :)

To Kaira-chan : Of course Yami's not mean! Nobody in YuGiOh really is, I think. ^^; Thank you very much! ^_^

To Kiawna : ^^; Ah, the protectiveness of puppies ... Thank you very much! ^_^

To FungiFungusRayne : You can never have too much sugar! ~.^ Thank you!

To Yugi-obsessed : Thank you, I did my best. :)

To Imigo : A 'moment'? Well, read and find out! Bakura has never been mentioned in this story yet, but he'll make an appearance soon, if all goes well. Thank you very much! ^_^

To Crystal Blaize : Loving Seto *too* much isn't possible. I mean, he's cool! ^^; Another Seto-less chapter, I'm afraid. Thank you! :)

To UnknownDarkMystery : ^^; You're welcome! I did my best and hope you'll like this chapter as well. :)

To Star Light Shadow : Thank you! :)

To nekomoongirl : There, there, don't call Yami names! Thank you! :)

To Kitty Neko : You spoke the magical word ... thank you! :)

To Koishii No Tenshi : One week, soon? ~.^

To hAdOwCat : Erhm, sorry to disappoint you. Thank you! :)

To Sansi : Here's the next chapter, I hope you'll like it. :) Thank you!

To invisible-eyes : What match? ^^; Thank you! :)

To Sarasusamiga : Some more Yami/Yugi in this chapter, though I'm afraid their business is far from resolved. ^^; Thank you very much! :)

To FREAK014 : Well, I did warn for it, ne? ^^; Sorry to hear about Joey. Thank you! :)

To Anime Crazed : You read my mind! ^^; Thank you! :)

To Lethe Seraph : Well GCYY may be quite some chapters away yet. This more like a SCYY. ^^; Thank you very much! ^_^

To DarkShadowFlame : Why? To be able to toss in Bakura/Ryou, of course! Why else? ^^; Thank you very much! ^_^

To Anonymous : Thank you very much! ^_^

[Edit : fixed the error Kaira-chan pointed out to me. Thank you!]

**********

Yugi had expected Yami to sneer at him for failing at such a simple thing as throwing a ball. Instead though, the look Yami threw him as he picked up the ball was almost friendly.

For a few moments, they stood there regarding each other in silence. Yugi desperately tried to think of something intelligent to say, something that wouldn't make him sound like an idiot. Yami's face betrayed nothing of his thoughts, causing Yugi to wonder if perhaps he'd imagined Yami's earlier sympathy.

"I assume you came here to practice?" Yami inquired softly, just as Yugi was about to decide that saying *anything* was better than keeping silent while his face kept getting redder and redder.

"Y-yes." Yugi nodded gratefully. "For the try-outs," he added.

"Of course," Yami replied, tossing the ball to Yugi, who caught it barely. Yami was a bit puzzled why, since he knew he had thrown it well, with the intention of demonstrating that *he*, unlike Yugi, was able to estimate distances. "A sensible idea."

Yugi flushed. Whether because he was angry at Yami's tone or because he was embarrassed by nearly missing the easy ball, Yami didn't know. Lifting the ball in his hands, Yugi seemed at a loss as to what to do with it next.

Yami wanted to roll his eyes, or at least demand his ball back and tell the boy to forget about the try-outs. For some reason though, he found his annoyance with Yugi fading. Someone as shy and clumsy as Yugi, who stuttered at the slightest surely could never pose any kind of threat to him, could he?

"Well, it's usual to start with some simple shots for warming up," Yami remarked, gesturing in the direction of the nearest basket. Yugi obediently turned to face it, the ball lifted. He stood that way for nearly a ful minute, before he sighed and shook his head.

"Can't you look at something else while I practice?" Yugi stared at Yami imploringly.

"I'm just looking," Yami replied, slightly sharply. "I'm not going to snatch the ball out of your hands or try to block your shot or anything."

"It's not that," Yugi explained, fidgeting. "It's just that I don't like people watching me."

Yami stared at him incredulously. "It's *just* that you don't like people watching you? However do you think you're going to play a game of basketball if you can't throw a single ball while someone's looking at you?"

"I ... " Yugi began.

"In a real game, people will do much more than merely 'looking', you know," Yami continued, taking a step forwards. He wasn't that much taller than Yugi, really, but from the expression on his face, he felt as if he was twice as tall, looming over the other boy like some giant. "People will be yelling at you and doing everything they can to get you to lose your concentration."

Yugi's eyes were very wide and large. In a distant part of his mind, Yami wondered how the two of them had gotten to stand so close to each other. It was as if their noses would touch if either of them would lean forwards a little bit more.

"I ... " Yugi said, once again not finishing his sentence.

Yami found his attention wandering from Yugi's eyes to his hair. Like his own, it was three colours - gold, red and black. Almost without himself consciously willing it, he reached out his hand to touch it, to feel if it was as soft as it looked.

"I have to go." Yugi bolted, abruptly dropping the ball. Yami stared after him numbly as he sprinted away through the exit to disappear from view.

"What's *his* problem?" Yami asked, to no one in particular, ignoring the echo in his own head that questioned what his own motivations had been in acting like he had. If it had been Joey -or anyone else for that matter- he'd never have ... 

Of course, Joey would never behave the way that Yugi had. Nobody Yami had ever met would. So, in a way, it was all Yugi's fault. Yugi had caused it all. Yami wasn't to blame for anything at all.

The words sounded false, even to himself. If only -

"Ouch!" Odd, how he hadn't noted the landing spot of the ball before. The toes of his left feet were hurting quite a lot now.

*****

Yugi's lungs felt like bursting when he sagged against the door of his home. He had no idea why he had run off like he had. Yami would probably think even less of him because of it. Not that Yami's opinion was *that* important to him. After all, they hardly knew each other.

How silly of him, to want to impress Yami then, to be so angry with himself for being reduced to some stammering, clumsy fool when Yami was around. Though he had also felt nervous with Otogi and Joey watching him, it had been even worse with Yami.

"Yugi? Where have you been? I was worried." His grandfather took in his appearance, concern in his eyes. "What has happened to you? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, grandfather, really." Yugi managed a smile, feeling a pang of guilt. Couldn't he do *anything* right this evening? "I just kind of lost track of the time and ran all the way home."

"Ah, well, next time you can simply walk, Yugi." His grandfather smiled in return. "I know what it's like when you're with friends, involved in some exciting game. Just give me a call, will you? Then this foolish old man is reassured that nothing bad is keeping you away."

"You're not a 'foolish, old man', grandfather!" Yugi protested, considering whether or not he should correct his grandfather's idea that he had been at Otogi's.

"Compared to you, I'm definitely old." His grandfather chuckled. "But still young enough to enjoy my life and make myself useful every now and then. Ryou sends his greetings by the way. I expect you will see him at school tomorrow."

"I hardly even remember what he looks like," Yugi confessed. "The last time I saw him seems very long ago. Though I guess there won't be that many new students I can mistake him with."

His grandfather snorted. "You only met him once, in Egypt, when both your parents and his were visiting there. You were hardly one year old then, so I'm not surprised your memories of him aren't too clear. In fact, I'd be surprised if you would have had any at all. He's quite easy to recognize though, thanks to his white hair. I daresay nobody else your age has that."

"Hmm." Yugi conceded that was probably true. Although he had also thought he'd never meet someone with the same combination of hair-colors as his own ...

"Don't fret about it too much, Yugi. You'll see that everything will work out just fine tomorrow. So, off to bed with you!" His grandfather tried to look stern.

Yugi was too tired to do more than nod. And hope that his grandfather was right.

*****

Otogi glared at the screen of his computer which showed a seemingly faultless program-code. *Seemingly* faultless, yes. Because there *was* a fault in it, somewhere. Each time he tried to run the program, it crashed within half a minute.

The only problem was that he didn't have the slightest clue what to look for. There were so many things that could go wrong in writing a code that it might almost be faster to rewrite the whole of it than to check it all for errors.

He might get lucky, of course. And one was supposed to learn from mistakes after all. If there was some fundamental flaw in his programming, Otogi preferred to know about it as soon as possible, so that he wouldn't continue to write inperfect code.

Unfortunately, it was very, very boring to read line after line of letters and numbers. After his fifth cup of coffee, Otogi had lost count of the number of times he had nearly fallen asleep. He knew it might not be too smart to do this kind of thing on a night before a schoolday, but he couldn't stand not knowing what was wrong.

A quick check of the clock taught him it was a few minutes past midnight. Which meant he had viewed about half of the code in two hours. Not too shabby.

If Lady Fortune willed it, he might get a nice six hours of sleep yet! The prospect cheered him up considerably, giving him new energy to work his way through the last half.

When the doorbell rang, at first Otogi hardly noticed. Partially perhaps, because he wasn't expecting anyone to drop by at an hour like this. His visitor appeared to be the insistent type though and at the third ring, Otogi saw himself forced to abandon his work to go open the door.

Having promised himself a nice hard yell at the culprit who had interrupted him, Otogi was thoroughly chagrined to find himself face to face with his employer, the owner of the gameshop above which Otogi's apartment was located. Behind him stood a boy of about Otogi's own age, with unremarkable brown hair and eyes. He didn't look too happy about being there. 

"What - "

"This is my nephew, who will share your apartment, until I have found some other place for him to stay."

Otogi blinked, wishing his mind was a little less sluggish. Or at least more inclined to formulate lines in human speech instead of programming language.

"But - "

"If you want to keep your job *and* this apartment, I'd suggest you don't make any trouble over this, boy." 

Otogi reminded himself it would be very hard to claim strangling a person to have been an accident.

"I - "

"That's settled then. Good night. Don't be late for work tomorrow."

~tbc~

A/N : Next chapter will be mainly Otogi/Honda and either Bakura/Ryou or Seto/Joey. I haven't decided yet. ^^;


	11. Eleven

Slam dunk

e-l-e-v-e-n

[Edit : Due to ff.net eating my asterisks as well as some of my emoticons, this chapter's lay-out is a bit weird, sorry.]

Warnings/notes : AU, Yami/Yugi, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda and possibly slight Bakura/Ryou, oocness.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. 

written at 9th march 2004, by Misura

Thanks to the people who reviewed the tenth chapter :

To Somnia Lustre : Thank you! Ryou and Joey ended up both in this chapter, so I hope you'll enjoy it! :)

To kamehameha : Fluff is coming ... after the angst.-slightly guilty- Thank you! :)

To Ril : I managed to update within one week again. Is that soon enough? -hopeful- Thank you! :)

To RaineKitsune : Sorry for your prayers not having been granted and thank you! :)

To Strega : I'll do my best, thank you! -big smile-

To Kaira-chan : Ooops. --;;;; 'Sure to be good'? Well ... I wouldn't say that. -slightly guilty- Thank you very much! -big smile-

To Kiawna : It starts tiny ... but it'll grow in time. Thank you! :)

To leaf zelindor : Aww, don't you think they can cheer each other up? Thank you! :)

To Sarasusamiga : Honda's hair ... hmm, you're right. It -is- remarkable. Though maybe not so much if you're used to Yami and Yugi? -coughs- I hadn't really thought about it when I wrote that scene. Thank you very much! 

To UnknownDarkMystery : Sorry, a bit too early for that. We hardly met Ryou and Bakura hasn't even been -mentioned- yet so ... thank you! :)

To Crystal Blaize : Erhm. -coughs- Seto isn't in this chapter. But his eyes are, does that count too? -slightly guilty- Sorry, I'll try to have him make an appearance again soon. Thank you! :)

To Star Light Shadow : Aww, but I like the way Yami looks! He just needs to adapt his behavior a little, that's all. Thank you! :)

To Sarah Harvey : I try to update every Monday. Thank you! :)

To hAdOwCat : Yes, there will be a tad little bit Bakura/Ryou, probably. I just can't help myself. -slightly guilty- Thank you! :)

To A. Hailan : I bet Otogi finds being stuck with Honda a lot less funny for the moment, but ... glad to hear you liked it. Thank you very much! 

To FREAK014 : I promised, didn't I? Thank you! :)

To Kitty Neko : I did my best. Thank you! :)

To quantuminferno : Uhm, well, kind of. It's not exactly 'love at first sight' I'm afraid. -slightly guilty- Thank you! :)

To shallow tears : Thank you, I did my best. :)

To Anime Crazed : I'm afraid you'll simply have to wait and see how Yugi and Yami's relationship develops. -winks- Thank you! :)

To Seto-Kaiba's-fan : Only your third? Can I ask what your first and second are then? I'm somewhat curious. -winks- Thank you! :)

To FungiFungusRayne : [Kitty Neko asked me to say 'hi' to you for her(?).] Aww, don't poke fun at poor Otogi! Thank you! :)

To Uoyr's lover : Hmm, how does one-third of each sound? -winks- Thank you very much! :)

To Kairi-San : A basketball manga? Translated and all? Could you tell me the author? -slightly embarrassed- Thank you! :)

To Suppis Tenshi : You'll meet Ryou in this chapter. And Bakura ... maybe. -winks- Thank you very much! -big smile-

To nekomoongirl : ; So do I, if truth be told. Thank you! : )

- - - - -

Honda stared at the floor, feeling rather awkward. If he had known that his uncle's offer of 'a nice place to live for a while' had actually meant 'an apartment which you'll share with someone who is too dependent on me to protest', he'd never have accepted it.

The green-eyed boy - Honda realized his uncle hadn't even bothered to introduce them - didn't appear too pleased with him. Normally, Honda would have taken serious offense at the looks that were sent in his direction, but under the present circumstances he felt that he hardly had the right. Which made him feel even more awkward.

He was used to simple problems, with simple solutions. If anyone insulted you, you beat them up to make sure they'd be a bit more respectful next time. Easy. And, in Honda's opinion, justified as well. Some people just didn't seem to get that they -weren't- better than everyone else. They were -asking- for it.

" -gi." Honda blinked, discovering he had let his mind wander so far that he hadn't caught all of the other boy's words. Great. Now he'd probably make an even worse impression.

"Sorry, what did you say?" 'Sorry' wasn't a word he used very often. He doubted if his new roommate would place the proper value on it though.

- -

Otogi frowned. He had decided to prove himself magnanimous and be the first to break the silence, reasoning that it was at least possible that his unexpected 'guest' hadn't known aforehand of his uncle's intentions, that maybe he had been promised a nice place to live and had only found out about that 'nice place' actually belonging to someone else later.

Now though, it seemed the nephew was just some spoilt brat, who considered it beneath him to pay attention to other people and thought that saying 'sorry' meant he was forgiven. Definitely not the kind of person Otogi wanted to deal with this late at night.

"I said : 'My name is Otogi and you can sleep on the couch this night'. We can decide which room would serve best for a second bedroom tomorrow ... or rather : this evening." Tough luck if Mister Nephew-of-the-boss wanted a bed. Otogi wasn't going to let him use his and there was no spare one for guests either, courtesy of uncle dear, who had been opposed to Otogi asking any 'noisy friends' over.

"Oh, sure. Thanks. I'm Honda Hiroto." For a moment, Honda looked as if he was going to shake Otogi's hand, but Otogi gave him a curt nod before exiting the room, back to his beloved project. 

"Hmph. At least he said 'thanks'," Otogi muttered. "Maybe there's hope for him yet."

In the living room, Honda stared at the door that had fallen shut behind Otogi, hoping his involuntary new roommate would be a bit more civil by day.

"Though he's pretty nice to look at." Honda grinned. "A lot nicer than any of those boyfriends my sister used to bring home with her. Now, if only I can convince him I'm not too bad ... and if he's not straight, of course." He gazed around, searching for any clues, finding none. 

"Ah well, time enough to investigate later." Suppressing a yawn, Honda managed to turn the couch into something he could sleep on, glad that he had thought of bringing his own blankets.

- - - - -

He had kissed him.

He, Joey Wheeler, had kissed Seto Kaiba.

It didn't feel as good as he'd thought it would.

In his imagination, he had always been able to melt the last bits of the icy wall that Kaiba - yes, he ought to call Seto 'Kaiba' again now - by the fire of his kiss. 

One kiss, and Kaiba would admit that his cold act had been nothing more than that : an act. Perhaps even a test, to see if Joey was sincere. It was part of the reason why he had never tried to kiss the person he was sure that he loved before.

Now he had kissed Kaiba, but nothing had happened. Nothing at all. He had thought that the ball had been some sort of sign.

He had been wrong.

Kaiba didn't love him and never would.

He hadn't been the least bit affected by the kiss, hadn't responded to it, hadn't enjoyed it, hadn't -wanted- it the way Joey had wanted it.

Kaiba probably hated him at the moment. And Joey couldn't say he blamed him.

"Man, do I know how to make a mess of things!"

Joey sighed, his gaze falling on the basketball, still lying in the bag in which Kaiba had returned it.

Maybe Yami was right after all, in practically living for a sport. At least sports had fixed rules.

In spite of his intentions though, he dreamt of Kaiba again that night. A pair of blue eyes seemed to stare at him disappointedly, reprimanding him for having so little faith and perserverance.

- - - - -

Ryou gracelessly dropped down on the couch, feeling utterly drained. The old man who had been a colleague of his grandfather's had been quite kind in offering to give him a lift to his apartment, but he had also been rather talkative. Normally, Ryou would probably have enjoyed his company but after his five-hour flight, the only thing he wanted to do was sleep.

Sighing, he stared at his suitcases. Ryou knew he ought to make a start with unpacking them, considering tomorrow was a school-day and one he didn't intend to miss. He lacked the energy though.

Maybe he would just limit himself to the one that contained the most essential things, like clothing, and save the rest for later. That would suffice his needs -and- allow him to go to rest without feeling as if he was being lazy and weak.

The only bad thing about that excellent idea was that he'd have to get up from the couch to execute it. While he was just in the process of getting really comfortable and relaxed ...

- -

A pair of dark-brown eyes stared through the window, taking in the sight of the sleeping boy on the couch with a mixture of amusement and disdain. For the briefest of moments they flickered to the door, through which their owner might enter to cover the somewhat unexpected new inhabitant of the apartment with some sort of blanket, to spare him a cold awakening.

The idea was discarded quickly. After all, what problem of his would it be if some foolish boy had been too exhausted to make it to his bed? Maybe he'd learn something from the experience.

Maybe ... but probably not. With a soft snort, the watcher turned away, walking down the street without loking back, the pale moonlight reflected by his long white hair.

tbc


	12. Twelve

Slam dunk

------------

Warnings/notes : AU, Yami/Yugi, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda and possibly slight Bakura/Ryou, oocness.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

written at 17th march 2004, by Misura

Thanks to the people who reviewed the eleventh chapter :

To Sugar Kat : -smiles- Glad to hear you liked it! Next update will be a little longer, sorry. -smiles apologetically-

To FREAK014 : -looks indignant- Otogi isn't dumb! And Joey isn't the only one you should be feeling sorry for I think ... -smiles guiltily- Thank you!

To Sarasusamiga : -bites her lip- 'Yes', to the question about 'Spacedogs' I'm afraid. There -is- a chance I might write more, but I'd rather not have you get your hopes up, only to be disappointed. Thank you!

To kamehameha : -grins- Please be careful with my Seto. I still need him and so does Joey. -winks- Thank you!

To RaineKitsune : -smiles- More Bakura in this chapter. Well, kind of. Thank you!

To Suppis Tenshi : Sorry to say there's not much interaction in this chapter. -smiles nervously- People just keep walking away from each other. It's rather frustrating, really. Sorry and thank you!

To hieiandkuramalover : -grins- Either you're clairvoyant, or you read the notes. But yes, you're right. Also in feeling sorry for Joey, although Seto might be worthy of some sympathy too. Thank you!

To Crystal Blaize : -beams proudly- Especially for you, I have had Seto angst a bit in the start of this chapter. -coughs- He'll cheer up again, I promise. Thank you!

To Ril : -smiles- And you'll meet him again this chapter. Sorta.

To Anime-Ali : -smiles- Thank you!

To Star Light Shadow : -grins- Ah, another clairvoyant. Thank you very much!

To Koishii No Tenshi : -smiles- Say 'please'?

To Anonymous : Well, everyone's more or less where I want them to be now, with no more characters waiting to be introduced. Thank you! -smiles-

To Kitty Neko : It's a hard world sometimes. -coughs- Sorry.

To hAdOwCat : Seto and Joey are going to Angst. Yami and Yugi ... well, that's a secret. Thank you! -smiles-

To Leaf Zelindor : -grins- Well, 'likes' might be a big word. But on their behalf, I'd like to thank you for the plushies. Thank you!

To Anime Crazed : I'm ah not quite sure yet. -blushes- Thank you!

To Seto-Kaiba's-fan : Hey, there's nothing wrong with Seto/Anzu. -smiles- Thank you!

To UnknownDarkMystery : Thank you! -smiles-

To FungiFungusRayne : -gulps- Uhm, please don't harm Seto. I kind of need him. And Joey'd be really upset if something happened to him. You wouldn't want to upset Joey would you? Thank you!

To A. Hailan : -gulps and smiles- I'm glad I'm not pocket-sized too. It'd be really hard to type or read books then. Not to mention I wouldn't get much inspiration living in your pocket. -sweatdrops- Otogi and Honda ... well, Honda's going to try. Subtly. Thank you very much! -beams-

To invisible-eyes : All right, I'll make Seto angst. How about that? -smiles guiltily- Thank you!

To Digimagic (and Sarah) : Thanks for the glomps! -smiles- I'll do my best to fix things with Joey and Seto, though they both need to do something about it too.

To The Chaotic Ones : -beams- Thank you!

To Kaze Thorn : -smiles- Thank you!

----------

One simple kiss shouldn't bother him this much, Seto sternly told himself, slowly walking past the basketball-court to school. Not when it came from Joey, at any rate.

The blonde mutt jumped and glomped him on a regular base, after all, screaming 'I love you!' at the top of his lungs. Those things hadn't bothered Seto in the slightest.

Well, they had -bothered- him, of course, but not ... they had never made him doubt if maybe Joey was -serious-. They had never made him nervous about meeting the mutt again the next day. That kiss, clumsy and shy as it had been, had.

Maybe, Seto reflected, it was the fact that it -had- been 'clumsy and shy' that did it. While 'clumsy' was an attribute he'd readily apply to Joey's actions any day, 'shy' just didn't seem to fit his character.

Was he just imagining things? Or might it be that Joey wasn't as self-assured as he seemed to be? And why would Seto care about it either way?

Sighing, Seto tried to shove Joey out of his thoughts and focus on remembering his schedule for the day instead. When he looked up, he noticed that he had been too distracted to notice the object of his musings, leaning to a wall nearby and staring at him with a rather peculiar expression on his face.

Just staring. No yelled declarations of love, no glomping-attempts, no nothing. It was unsettling. And that it unsettled him unsettled Seto even more.

"Mutt." He nodded in greeting. He -never- greeted Joey, barely even acknowledged his existence. What the heck was wrong with him? Now Joey would probably do something to make him regret it ...

There was no reply. Joey had simply slipped away to class, as if he hadn't even seen Seto.

Seto decided the world had gone crazy. And that he didn't like it one bit.

-----

"You really don't enjoy having any spectators, do you?" Anzu asked with a slight smile. She had walked in on Yugi practicing. Since she was a friend, Yugi hadn't felt right about asking her to leave, even if she was right about her presence making him feel uncomfortable.

"I'm trying to get over it," Yugi replied, giving up his pretense of trying to make a shot. "Basketball's a teamsport after all." He offered her a small smile in return. It was hard -not- to smile back at Anzu, really. She just had this way of cheering people up in spite of themselves.

"That's true, yes." She nodded, looking pensive.

"And if I'm going to play in any real games, there'll be people watching me too," Yugi continued, wondering what was on her mind.

"Well, yes." She bit her lower lip. "But Yugi, listen, if you don't want to ... I mean, you're not doing this just because of Joey, are you? I know he can be a bit overwhelming and that he's really excited about your talent. But if it's not what -you- want ... "

"I do want this," Yugi assured her. "I'm sick and tired of being so shy anyway. And basketball's fun."

"Good," Anzu grinned, relieved. "I just wanted to be sure that it -is- your choice." Placing her backpack in the grass, she walked onto the field, coming to a stop a few feet away from Yugi. "All right then, how about a little one-on-one? I promise I won't look at you. Just at the ball."

-----

Honda woke up to the sound of a door falling shut. Opening his eyes, the first question on his mind was : 'where am I?'. Once his brains had woken up enough to give him the answer to that one ('In the living-room of the apartment I'm sharing with that really cute guy'), his next inquiry was to the time.

A quick glance on his watch told him it was a few minutes to nine. Meaning that if he was really, really quick, skipped breakfast and wouldn't bother digging up his uniform from the bottom of his suitcase, he'd still be late for school. Great.

Honda groaned, deciding he might as well skip school altogether today. His uncle probably wouldn't approve but it wasn't as if Honda -cared- about that. And his room-mate ...

Shooting out of bed, Honda hurried to the door that he remembered Otogi going through last night, assuming it would lead to some bedroom. -He- might not care about missing classes, but Otogi might. And who knew, if Honda saved him from over-sleeping too bad, he might get a little nicer to Honda.

Unlike what Honda'd expected, the room behind the door contained no bed. It was a working-room at first sight, with a computer and stacks of disks and folders. Honda wondered what Otogi did that produced so much mess.

Moving on to another door, he discovered the bedroom, which looked only a little less messy. It also was quite empty of any sleeping Otogi. Honda frowned, not believing what his eyes were telling him at first. Surely Otogi hadn't just left, -knowing- Honda had to go to school as well?

Granted, Otogi might have forgotten about his unexpected guest, but Honda had been lying on the couch in the living-room, which was impossible not to notice before leaving the apartment, since it was the only room directly connected to the door.

"Damn it! Why do the cute ones always have to be such incredible, unsufferable, annoying -brats-?" Honda scoffed. In desperate need of an outlet for his annoyance, he punched one of the cushions that he had used to make the couch a bit more comfortable to sleep on.

White feathers fluttered through the living-room in reaction. Apparently the cushion wasn't used to being used for a punching-bag. Honda cursed and went looking for a dustpan and brush.

-to be continued in three weeks or more-


	13. Thirteen

Slam dunk

-------------

Warnings/notes : AU, Yami/Yugi, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda and possibly slight Bakura/Ryou, oocness.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

written at 5th april 2004, by Misura

Thanks to the people who reviewed the twelfth chapter :

To Star Light Shadow : -grins- Yugi's cute no matter what he does I think. Thank you! -smiles-

To kamehameha : -glomps the plushie- Thank you very much! -smiles-

To Icy Flame : Well, Honda did arrive pretty late. And he had Otogi to dream of ... -winks- Thank you!

To Amarin Rose : -smiles guiltily- Thank you!

To Kaze Thorn : I did my best, thank you! -smiles-

To Crystal Blaize : This chapter's Seto-less again, I'm afraid. Though people do talk about him. -grins- Thank you!

To s/jforever : Thank you! -smiles-

To Yugi-obsessed : Tried to. -smiles-

To FREAK014 : Well, with a cutie like Otogi around, it's easy to get a crush, ne? -winks- Thank you!

To Seto-Kaiba's-fan : Thank you! -smiles-

To Kiawna : -sweatdrops- I hope your headache's over by now. Thank you! -smiles-

To hAdOwCat : Yup, Bakura's in this story. Thank you!

To Leaf Zelindor : Poor you! -smiles- Thank you!

To upset reviewer : Some things simply aren't meant to be I'm afraid.

To A. Hailan : -beams- Thank you very much! You're probably right about a hug from Seto having the power to cheer Joey up tremendously, but, well, it's -Seto-. Not the type of guy to go around hugging people. -winks- Though someone might give him a 'little' shove ...

To Ril : Don't worry, everyone will cheer up eventually. -smiles- Thank you!

To Sugar-Kat : I hope you had a good trip. Thank you! -smiles-

To UnknownDarkMystery : -pats- There, there. Thank you!

To RaineKitsune : Thank you! -smiles-

To DarkShadowFlame : -nods- There was an explanation for 'Kura', involving hungry orphans, young thieves, adoptions and blood-oaths, but, well, in the end I decided giving Ryou another last name would be simpler. -grins guiltily- And now I can use that plot for another story. Thank you very much!

To Kaira-chan : Forgotten Honda? Perhaps you're giving Otogi too much credit ... Thank you very much! -beams-

To Lethe Seraph : Honda and Otogi -don't- get along. For now. -winks- Thank you!

To Kitty Neko : Say please? -winks-

To The Chaotic Ones : -sweatdrops- I hope you haven't wilted away yet. Thank you!

To FungiFungusRayne : The odds of Seto apologizing ... well, you never know. Thank you!

To invisible-eyes : I did my best, thank you! -smiles-

To Suppis Tenshi : A tiny bit of Ryou in this chapter ... and Bakura? Thank you very much! -beams-

To Uoyr's lover : Well, for you it's a little over ten days. -winks- Thank you!

-----------

[!] Please note that the last part of the previous chapter has been cut. I decided the explanation for 'Kura' having taken the last two syllables of Ryou's last name for a name and Ryou's father knowing him, while Ryou did not, would be too lengthy and complicated for this fic.

----------

Playing basketball with Anzu, Yugi decided, was a lot of fun. He couldn't exactly explain why he felt more at ease with her than he had felt with Joey, Otogi or Yami, but somehow he did. Maybe it was because she was a girl, though Yugi didn't see what being a girl had to do with playing basketball.

Or perhaps it was the fact that she didn't seem to be expecting anything else from him except for him to enjoy himself. She wasn't praising his talents or making it easy for him to gain possession of the ball; Anzu was good at basketball and while she might try to teach him something, she wasn't as obvious about it as Joey or Otogi.

In front of Yami, he had felt awkward, like he was being weighed and judged. Anzu was merely having a good time, making no difference between a game of basketball or eating lunch together. In both cases she'd be smiling, making him feel welcome.

She was a good friend.

She was, however, not more than that.

Joey and Otogi had begun to tease him about having a crush on Anzu, but Yugi knew they were wrong. It wasn't that Anzu wasn't smart, pretty or cheerful. It was just that he didn't feel about her that way.

"Hey, Yugi, are you in there?" Anzu's cheerful voice brought him back to the present.

"Sorry." He blushed, picking up the ball that was lying at his feet. "I was just thinking."

She grinned, though there was a slight edge to it. "Has Joey been bothering you again about that whole boyfriend-girlfriend-thing?"

Yugi shook his head. "No, not at all." It wasn't entirely true, but Yugi figured that the last thing Joey could use right now was getting another tongue-lashing from Anzu. "He's been rather quiet these past days."

Anzu sighed. "I used to pray for him to shut up for a while and to stop getting so worked up over Kaiba. Now it seems I got my wish ... and all I want is for the old Joey to get back. He's just not himself. And I can't figure out why, or what any of us can do to change it."

"Maybe Kaiba ... " Yugi's voice trailed off as he realized he had no idea how to end that line. Kaiba didn't seem to care about Joey, whether the blonde was chasing him relentlessly or moping in a quiet corner. Kaiba simply went on ignoring him, like he ignored the rest of the world.

In his more charitable moments, Yugi thought Kaiba was probably very lonely. It was, at least in part, his own doing though.

"Do you think Kaiba has done something to him?" Anzu inquired, the expression on her face promising a slow and painful death to Kaiba, were Yugi to say 'yes'.

"No!" Yugi answered hastily. The thought -had- crossed his mind once or twice, but what reason could Kaiba possibly have for harming Joey? Aside from the blonde following him around and bugging him, of course ... "I was just wondering if maybe we could ask Kaiba to help."

Anzu stared at him like he had proposed to cheer up Joey by taking off their clothes and go to class naked. "Ask Kaiba for help? You're kidding me, right? I'll grant you that he's probably not as bad as he pretends to be, because -nobody- could be that big a jerk, but ... " She shook her head. "You've been standing in the sun too long. Or you got hit over your head by a ball."

"It's not -that- ridiculous!" Yugi defended himself. "Joey likes him after all."

"Yes, he does," Anzu admitted. "And that's saying more about Joey's ability to judge people than about Kaiba's qualities as a human being, in my opinion."

-----

"You look like a puppy whose master has beaten him for no good reason," Otogi noted, sitting down next to Joey without awaiting his invitation. Or rather, considering Joey's present mood, his polite but firm request to go somewhere else and leave him alone. Which Otogi wasn't willing to do, so it was better to simply prevent Joey from trying to make him.

"I'm not a puppy," Joey snapped. Otogi tried to figure out if it was a good sign that Joey was acting annoyed or not. Did it mean he was annoyed with Kaiba? That Joey was getting over his infatuation?

"Kaiba says you are," Otogi prodded, not quite managing to sound as patient and sympathy-offering as he had intended when he had decided to seek out Joey for a little talk.

"I didn't know you and Kaiba were such good buddies. What else did he say about me? That I was a complete moron? That he was disgusted by me and never wanted to see my face again?" Joey sounded bitter. Otogi didn't like that.

"Actually, he confessed to harbor an undying passion for you and expressed an ardent desire to make sweet love to you," Otogi replied lightly.

"Very funny," Joey said, in a tone that indicated he found it anything but.

Otogi rolled his eyes. "Well, you started the joking. You know I don't like Kaiba. And I like seeing you all moping and downcast even less. What happened, Joey? You proposed to him and he turned you down? He's done that thousands of times. It never seemed to bother you before."

"But that was before I kissed him," Joey mumbled, averting his gaze. Otogi blinked, his brains needing a few seconds to confirm that yes, Joey had just said he'd actually managed to kiss Kaiba.

"Kaiba allowed you to kiss him?" Otogi grabbed Joey's shoulder. "Then what the heck are you feeling so depressed about?"

"He didn't ... it wasn't like that!" Joey shook his head wearily. "I just surprised him."

"Riiiight," Otogi snorted. "Please, Joey. You've been trailing the guy for ... what? months? years? The only way you could surprise him would be because he -wanted- to be surprised. If you kissed him, it's because he -wanted- you to kiss him." Was that a glimmer of hope he saw in Joey's eyes?

"Otogi ... leave me alone, okay? I'm not in the mood for company." Joey sighed, grabbing his head as if Otogi's mere presence was giving him a headache.

"Fine. I'll go." Otogi rose indignantly, not feeling too pleased with having played the devil's advocate. Who could ever know what moved Kaiba? For all he knew the man -had- had an exhausting night, causing him to be a little less alert.

It wouldn't have done Joey any good to hear Otogi confirm that though.

-----

Ryou stared in satisfaction at the small ad that was now hanging amongst the mass of other ads on the special message-board of the supermarket. Since the service was free for anyone who was a customer, his small, white card didn't exactly stand out, but the writing on it was clear, not like the messy scribbles on some of the others.

Besides, he only required one person to see it.

Well, only one -interested- person, Ryou amended silently.

_'Wanted : a helping hand in the household, in exchange for boarding.'_

One interested person whom he could live with. That wasn't too much to hope for, was it? He had considered offering some sort of salary as well, but had decided against it in the end.

He didn't want some ... servant. He just wanted, well, a kind of roommate. Someone to help him keep the house clean and such. That was all.

Ryou sighed. He had done what he had come here to do. Time to go home and prepare some sort of dinner, never mind that he was about the worst cook he had ever met.

Hopefully his new housemate-to-be would be a better cook.

"Hey, aren't you in Maths with me? Is that ad yours? Can I apply?"

Ryou blinked, turning around.

to be continued

A/N : Guess who? -winks-


	14. Fourteen

Slam dunk

--------------

Warnings/notes : AU, Yami/Yugi, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda and possibly slight Bakura/Ryou, oocness.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

written at 5th april 2004, by Misura

Thanks to the people who reviewed the thirteenth chapter :

To Star Light Shadow : I'll try to update weekly again, though I can't promise anything. Except that there's a Yami/Yugi-moment planned in for next chapter. –grins- Thank you!

To Sarasusamiga : Thank you very much, both for the correction and for not yelling at me the lack of Yami. –smiles guiltily-

To Amarin Rose : Elvis was … almost right. –winks- Thank you!

To Anonymous : Thanks for guessing.

To Ril : Thanks for boosting Ryou's confidence by some praise! –smiles-

To Grammar Witch : Thank you very much! … The thought that you're reading this story's very reassuring. –grins-

To FungiFungusRayne : Hey, it's -your- favorite-list! –grins- Thank you!

To FREAK014 : Uhm … sorry for confusing you? –smiles guiltily-

To r-a-d-i-a-n-y : Thank you very much! (I replied to part of your review in a private entry in my lj, because it was rather long, so …). –smiles-

To DarkShadowFlame : It's Kura. Only, well, it isn't. Sorry. –smiles guiltily- Thank you very much!

To mangafan6 : Well, 'Ryo' reminds me of FAKE. And it can be spelled both ways, so I prefer 'Ryou'. Thank you!

To Suppis Tenshi : -beams- Thank you very much!

To Kiawna : Malik … I hope I'll manage to keep him out of this fic. Thank you! –smiles-

To Seto-Kaiba's-Fan : Thanks for guessing!

To Kamehameha : Lollipops … ? –gets her mind out of the gutter- Thank you! –smiles-

To Sarah Harvey : You say 'cliffhanger' like it's a bad thing … -winks-

To hAdOwCat : Yami/Yugi-moment coming up … next chapter. Sorry. Thank you! –smiles-

To Leaf Zelindor : -holds back her Kaiba-muse who doesn't like people petting 'his' puppy- Thank you!

To Joey Baby : I'm working on it, really. –smiles- Thank you!

To Icy Flame : Yours was the closest guess, aside from Amarin Rose, who guessed Elvis. –winks- Thank you very much!

To Kaira-chan : Love-triangles are -evil-! –shivers- And please don't encourage my Haga-muse. I don't like bugs. –winks- Thank you!

To invisible-eyes : Joey's savior is nearby, don't worry! Thank you! –smiles-

To Uoyr's lover : I don't like a depressed Joey either, so I'll do my best to cheer him up. Thank you! –smiles-

To Shinigami : A long time from now, not that far away and the Author only knows. –winks- Sorry.

To Amonae : I did, I did, please don't poke me! –winks- Thank you!

To Cairnsy : Backstories … well, at present I'm rather caught up in their present lives. I'll try work some of it in, but I'm not sure if it'll be anywhere nearly as much as you want. –smiles guiltily- Thank you very much! –beams-

---

Chapter disclaimer : Ryou's last name is taken from the anime 'Weiss Kreuz'.

----------

Honda had been living with Otogi for almost a full two weeks now, without gaining the slightest bit of friendliness from his involuntary roommate. At first, he had dismissed Otogi's coldness as the remnants of Honda's unexpected arrival and Otogi's obvious dislike for his uncle.

The man was family, so Honda couldn't exactly do what he wanted to do, which was leap to Otogi's defense and yell at his tormentor/employer to leave him alone. Thinking of Otogi as some damsel in distress, in need of a knight in shining armor to come to her rescue might be stretching his imagination a little bit too far, but still ... it might have won him some points with Otogi.

And, heck, his uncle deserved it too! Of course, Honda had only been here for a short period, yet if his observations were anything to go by, the man was shamelessly abusing the fact that he could kick Otogi out of his apartment if he wanted to. It were only small things, a more rational part of Honda noted. An extra thirty minutes of working. Borrowing some milk. Running an errand. Delivering a package. Posting a letter.

But a lot of small things took a big chunk out of Otogi's spare time. And coming home to Honda, who was the living reminder of another one of those 'small favors', it might make sense for Otogi to blow off some steam by snapping at him.

That still didn't mean Honda had to like it.

If only they could have met in different circumstances ... at present, Honda would estimate his chance at ever getting more than a friendly nod from Otogi only a little bit better than the odds at survival of a snowball in Hell.

Thus, he had resolved to go look for another place to stay. Without much hope, he had to admit. After all, who would agree to let a complete stranger stay under their roof?

"You're ... Honda Hiroto, aren't you?" the possible answer to Honda's problems asked uncertainly.

"Yup," Honda grinned friendly. "And you're Ryou Tsukiyono, the most recent addition to Domino High." The boy was a cute thing, really, with long white hair and soft brown eyes. Not his type, but definitely pretty. Honda'd be willing to bet Ryou'd have a girlfriend within three weeks. Or a boyfriend, possibly.

"Oh." Not the talkative kind. Honda could live with that. At least, he -hoped- Ryou simply wasn't much of a talker, rather than his silence being caused by an unwillingness to consider Honda's application.

"Can I - " Honda began, at the same moment Ryou started to ask something.

"Are you any good at cooking?" Ryou inquired, after Honda had gestured for him to finish his question.

"I'm a master chef!" Honda boasted, eager to make a good impression. Ryou eyed him a little bit dubious, so he added : "Well, maybe not a master, but I'm pretty good in the kitchen, yes."

Ryou smiled hesitantly, reaching out for the ad, before plucking it off the board in a determined gesture. "You sound exactly like the person I'm looking for."

Honda beamed. Ryou might not be 'his type', but he sure knew how to stroke a guy's ego, making him feel appreciated. A sensation Honda could use, after his time with Otogi. "Cool."

Ryou blushed. "When can I expect you?"

Honda thought for a moment. "Tomorrow morning?" He'd need some time to pack. Besides, it'd be polite to let Otogi know he was leaving.

Ryou nodded, accompanying Honda on his way to the exit of the supermarket, carelessly dropping the card on the floor. Too caught up in his good fortune to notice the white-haired person picking it up to study it curiously, before stuffing it in one of the pockets of his jacket.

-----

Yami assured himself he wasn't jealous.

Why would he care about Yugi spending so much of his time with Anzu? It was none of his business. He had only met the boy once and, well, he hadn't been too impressed.

Sure, Yugi had some talent. But it took much more than talent to be a good basketball-player. Joey and Otogi were talented too, yet Yami wouldn't consider them to be anywhere near -his- league. The same went for Anzu. They simply didn't have the attitude, the determination to -win-.

Yugi didn't have it either. He was too soft, too shy, too ... cute. Yami made a face.

" - and Otogi said I couldn't have done that to him if he hadn't wanted me to, but I'm not sure. What do you think I should do?"

A sudden silence brought Yami back to the present. His brains had simply shut out the sound of Joey's voice after a while; the blonde used way too many words to describe such a simple problem.

A problem that, Yami sourly mused, wasn't any of his business. He had no idea why Joey had come to -him-, of all people. They played basketball together, but beyond that ... what on earth gave Joey the right to come bug Yami with his relationship-trouble?

"Well?" Joey demanded. Yami swallowed the nonchalant 'I don't know' that rose to his lips. It would sound as if he ... didn't know. As if he actually cared and had tried to think of a solution, but had failed.

"What do -you- think you should do?" Yami asked. Answering questions with questions ... it might work. Glancing over at Yugi and Anzu, Yami noticed they were standing rather close together.

"If I knew that, would I be asking your opinion?" Joey riposted, eyeing him a bit stunned. Apparently he had expected Yami to point him in a distinct direction.

Yami shrugged. "I'd say this problem is entirely yours to solve." He wasn't complaining to Joey about the way Yugi and Anzu acted all close and cozy together, was he? Personal problems should be kept ... personal.

"Thanks a lot for the help." Joey was grinning. Grinning. Yami wondered why.

"I wasn't very helpful," he felt obliged to point out.

"No, but you listened to me. That's nice too. And you're right; my problem with Kaiba -is- something that I should work out on my own. Thanks."

As Joey walked away, still with that goofy grin on his face, Yami realized he had just admitted to himself that he was having a personal problem. With Yugi.

-----

"Kaiba, could I talk to you for a minute?"

Normally, Seto would have ignored such a request, especially when the person voicing it was female. For some unfathomable reason, over half of the girls of Domino High seemed to have decided that he was 'hot' (which Seto could have lived with and found amusing from time to time) and that he was desperately searching for a girlfriend (which Seto didn't find amusing at all).

Like Joey, they also believed that his coldness was just an act or, worse, something caused by a traumatic experience in a previous relationship. (Never mind the fact that he'd been living in Domino for all of his life and nobody had ever seen him with a girlfriend.) Seto counted himself lucky that they lacked the blonde's persistance and determination, since one obsessive stalker was grating on his nerves more than a little already.

Especially when that 'obsessive stalker' had been doing nothing and ignoring him recently. Which should have made Seto feel quite relieved and pleased, yet didn't. It didn't feel right to be ignored so thoroughly by Joey. That wasn't how it was supposed to be.

Combined with the fact that Seto had recognized the voice as belonging to Anzu Mazaki, rumored to make a 'cute couple' with that shy new student Yugi Mutoh, which considerably lowered the odds that she was here to squeal at Seto about wanting to be his 'one true love', that feeling made Seto decide to honor the request. After all, there always was at least a tiny chance she'd actually have something sensible to tell him.

Not dignifying the question with any verbal reply, Seto turned around to indicate he had at least -heard- that he had been spoken to. He slightly relaxed at seeing Mazaki was looking more annoyed and determined than swooning at having caught his attention.

Apparently it took her a few moments to realize that he was not going to say anything. Rather than being embarrased by it though, she appeared to grow more irritated. Good. Proving himself infinitely more intelligent than someone else in an argument tended to make Seto feel lots better. And, he was willing to admit, he could use some cheering up right now.

"It's about Joey." She eyed him expectantly. Seto shrugged.

"I don't have the least interest in that mutt." What he actually wanted to do was ask why on earth -Mazazki- thought he cared, but that might come out a little too defensive. Besides, Seto was pretty sure Mazaki was going to tell him anyway, whether he asked or not.

She frowned. "-Joey- does have an interest in -you-." She emphasized Joey's name, as if she didn't wish to argue with him about his calling Joey a 'mutt', yet at the same time did mind. She was, in other words, trying to be diplomatic. Interesting.

"That's not -my- problem." Well, Joey had -made- it his problem too, more or less, of course. Not that -that- was any business of Mazaki's.

"But you could help - " Mazaki began.

"This conversation is pointless," Seto interrupted her coolly, making a mental note to remember that he should simply stay away from people, period, even if they might make a normal, reasonably intelligent impression at first.

The world, Seto decided as he strode away, hearing Mazaki mutter something under her breath, was filled with idiots. Amongst them being one puppy.

-to be continued-


	15. Fifteen short

Slam dunk

---------------

Warnings/notes : AU, Yami/Yugi, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda and possibly slight Bakura/Ryou, oocness.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

written at 19th april 2004, by Misura

Thanks to the people who reviewed the fourteenth chapter :

To Sugar-Kat  : Thanks for the plushie! I'll do my best to update punctually next week. –smiles-

To Kaira-chan : Thank you very much! You're right in thinking of Otogi as not quite predictable … even -I- don't know how he's going to react yet … -sweatdrops and smiles-

To twinklefaerie : I did, though not with much. Thank you.

To Amonae : -smiles- Please, no poking. Thank you.

To Crystal Blaize : -grins- He's in this chapter too. Thank you!

To Snow Angel : Yup, the only one. –smiles- Thank you!

To Animefighter6 : I hope so too. –smiles- Thank you.

To Ril : Ryou and … Yugi? –blinks- Thank you for putting that idea into my head! –winks-

To Riyo-Hikaru : Rumors are … rumors. Nothing more. Giving you the answer to your other questions would be spoiling so … thank you! –smiles-

To Seto-Kaiba's-Fan : I'll do my best. –smiles-

To Anime-Ali : I didn't 'make' Anzu nice. Anzu -is- nice. –coughs and smiles apologetically- Uhm, thank you I mean.

To Kaze Thorn : Thank you! –smiles-

To hAdOwCat : What Anzu was trying to say is 'Go kiss Joey and make him feel better'. Sorry for confusing you. –smiles- Thank you!

To DarkShadowFlame : -beams- Thank you very much! I like writing Anzu. And uhm, I don't think this story's scheduled to end soon. –sighs-

To FungiFungusRayne : ['Guilty innocence' has been deleted, yes. Sorry.] Hey, don't whack my Seto! He needs to Angst! –sweatdrops and grins- Thank you!

To Star Light Shadow : Thanks for trying to help Seto. I'll see what I can do about your wishes. Them being my wishes too will help a lot, probably. –winks-

To Leaf Zelindor : Thanks for giving Seto a 'subtle' hint. –grins-

To Amarin Rose : Not much happens this chapter, sorry.

To Icy Flame : -beams and blushes- Thank you very much! I don't think Ryou's got room for two people though …

To Sei Kou Ki : I'll do my best. Thank you!

To Suppis Tenshi : Thank you very much, also for the vote of confidence in Bakura. –beams-

----------

Yugi was alone.

Anzu had left -whereto or what for Yami neither knew nor particularly cared about- and now Yugi was practicing by himself. He was doing pretty well too, Yami had to admit. Still, it wasn't as if it'd be of any use to Yugi as long as he remained so shy about playing in front of on-lookers.

Thus far, Yugi had only been playing with people he knew, people who encouraged him and didn't mind the least bit if Yugi failed to catch a ball or scored against them. He'd never played with any of the other members of the team. That was the one big flaw in Joey and Anzu's 'training-program'.

Yugi was too dependent on his friends. They should teach him how to hold his own, but instead they only strengthened his weakness.

Yami sighed, wondering why he was losing himself in thoughts at a moment like this. At a moment that offered him a perfect opportunity to step up to Yugi and ... do what? Hadn't he decided only a few seconds ago that Yugi was of no interest at all to him?

The fact that he disapproved of the way Joey and Anzu were coaching Yugi meant nothing. Yami shouldn't feel the least obligation to correct them, to help Yugi become good enough to make it into the team. Why would he?

Aside from a vague likeness in looks and a certain amount of talent for basketball, the two of them had nothing in common. Nothing to bind them, to make him feel like ...

"Uhm ... hi. I hadn't noticed you." Great. Now Yugi had seen him and, apparently, concluded he was here to talk to Yugi. Which was, admittedly, true, though Yami would have preferred to start their conversation only -after- he'd made up his mind about what it was that he wanted to say to Yugi.

He could act like Kaiba, Yami supposed; simply ignore Yugi and walk away. A useless action that would accomplish nothing. If Joey had been stalking -him-, Yami'd never have let it come as far as Kaiba had, judging by what little he'd picked up from the blonde's speech earlier on the day.

Kaiba lacked people-skills. And he was a coward, evading his problem and waiting until it went away on its own instead of actively doing something about it. Yami was better than that, like he was better than Kaiba in anything.

"You were busy." Yami didn't sound too friendly, but he did manage to sound polite. Besides, he could understand why basketball would keep Yugi from keeping an eye on his surroundings. It was good to be able to focus like that on a game. Yami wished Yugi had stayed focused like that a little longer.

Yugi nodded, offering Yami a hesitant smile. "Would you like to ... practice with me?"

It was a natural assumption for Yugi to make. Why else would Yami search him out? In theory, Yami might protest he'd come here 'just to talk', only Yugi'd probably -and quite reasonably- inquire what it was that Yami wanted to talk to him about. An inquiry Yami didn't have an answer ready for.

"I guess I could." It was hardly likely he'd learn anything from it, considering Yugi's skills, but it couldn't hurt. Unlike getting involved in a conversation, Yami sourly added, reminding himself he ought to prepare himself better the next time he decided to confront someone about a personal problem.

Yugi grinned. And threw the ball at him.

-----

"You know, Honda, you really are one of a kind," Otogi mused, listlessly shoving his dinner around on his plate. Honda had cooked, in 'celebration' of his moving-out. Not that he'd already gotten around to telling Otogi about that.

He'd thought that maybe he could make a last attempt to patch things up, prove to himself that he -could- win Otogi's friendship in spite of everything. After all, he might not get on Otogi's nerves as much anymore if he'd live elsewhere, but he also probably wouldn't see him as much.

"Oh?" 'Thank you' might have been safer. More cheerful and energetic also.

"Yeah. This stuff - " Otogi poked at the -well, no need to hide the ugly truth- drab on his plate, " - is supposed to be easy to prepare. Just add hot water, stir it a little and you've got dinner. I never thought -anyone- could mess it up this badly."

He could have known Otogi'd say something like that. Not that -that- made him like it any better.

"What can I say; I've got a lot of hidden talents," Honda grinned. Otogi sent him a Look that stated he was Not Amused.

"Too bad the emphasis in that line's on 'hidden'," Otogi retorted.

Honda ground his teeth, determined get through this last evening as inhabitant (or intruder, if Otogi's looks were anything to go by) without losing his temper.

"And what great and astounding talents would -you- have, aside from looking pretty and being a complete pest?" Had he said that out loud? Judging by the expression on Otogi's face, he had. Hm. Maybe it was a good thing he would be moving out tomorrow. Calling Otogi names was hardly going to improve their relationship.

For a moment, Otogi remained silent, his face expressionless. Or, perhaps, there were too many expressions on his face to read a single one of them, Honda wasn't sure. Otogi tended to be rather clear about his feelings and thoughts.

"I … " Honda began, not quite sure of how to continue. Because he -wasn't- going to apologize for speaking the truth, even if it had been rather tactless to flap it out like that.

Otogi laughed.

Honda blinked, confused.

That, apparently, was even funnier than his accusations, judging by the rise in volume of Otogi's laughter. Honda only wished he'd get the joke.

-----

If there was one thing Seto Kaiba prided himself on, aside from his self-control, it would be his efficiency. Once he'd set his mind to something, he would allow himself no rest until the task had been accomplished.

For something -or rather, in this case, someone- to hinder him in reaching his goal, was quite simply intolerable. Impossible. It just wouldn't do.

He had, without any exterior influence or pressure, reached the decision to do something about Joey's apparent depression. It bothered him in a vague way, distracted him from his daily routine, and thus it was a problem that had to be dealt with.

It wasn't, Seto assured himself, that he -cared- about the mutt. Or that that Mazaki-girl had gotten to him with her foolish talk about responsibility. It was just that the glomping Joey had fitted into his schedule, having become a normal aspect of his life.

Seto wanted that normalcy back, wanted Joey to get back to being a stupid mutt, who always came back to try and glomp him again, no matter what Seto said to him.

But how he was supposed to do that ... of -that- Seto didn't have the slightest idea. He'd never faced this kind of problem before, never had any need to actually encourage someone to get closer to him.

Closer ... well, not -too- close, obviously. It wouldn't do for Joey to think Seto actually -liked- him. That would be a lie, and Seto refused to degrade himself to lying. Only people who wanted to hide the truth, either from themselves or from others, indulged in lying.

Seto sighed, rubbing his temples and wondering what he was supposed to do. Cursing the day he'd first seen Joey Wheeler hardly seemed to be a very productive way to spend his time.

tbc


	16. Sixteen

Slam dunk

----------------

Warnings/notes : AU, Yami/Yugi, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda and possibly slight Bakura/Ryou, oocness.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

written at 27th april 2004, by Misura

Thanks to the people who reviewed the fifteenth chapter :

To Koyuki : -grins- Thank you very much for your witty comments. I hope Seto'll follow your advise. –winks-

To FungiFungusRayne : You're right: I wouldn't like you to kill Seto. Bu-ut how about I punish him by letting Joey kiss him again? -winks-

To ChibiSerenity3 : Sorry ff.net wasn't cooperating. –sweatdrops- Not that -I- can do much about it … thank you! -smiles-

To Ril : Yugi and … Ryou? -looks pensive- They -are- very cute, aren't they? … Thank you!

To Anime-Ali : Ah, I see. -smiles- I updated in six days this time, since I was late last week. -winks- Thank you!

To FREAK014 : 'Some' emotional problems? They have -loads- of emotional problems. -smiles guiltily- Thank you!

To Kiawna : Because … he's Kaiba? -sweatdrops- Thank you!

To Kaira-chan : I decided to give Yami and Yugi some privacy, so you'll only see the ending of the practice, with Yugi coming home all bouncy and happy. -grins- And Honda called Otogi 'pretty', you know. That's not really an insult. -winks- Thank you very much!

To Crystal Blaize : Hmm, I like your thought. But I guess I'll have to wait and see if the muses agree … Thank you!

To Amarin Rose : Denial is one of the big emotions I associate with Kaiba. -coughs- As to Otogi … read and find out! -smiles-

To Snow Angel : -grins- I think there's plenty of fics in which Joey leaves Seto and Seto wins him back. Or commits suicide. -winces- Thank you!

To Sarasusasamiga : Joey and Anzu's training -is- working, but also there's the fact that, in Yugi's interpretation, Yami has sought him out, politely waiting for Yugi to notice him, rather than walking up to him and demanding his attention. I think that might give Yugi a boost of confidence. Honda … well, I think that Otogi'd be rather expressive in showing his displeasure at Honda's presence. Though I picture Otogi as being more than capable of subtlety, I also think of him as being rather comfortable with showing his emotions. Of course, Honda's reading of Otogi's moods thus far has probably been limited to negative ones. Honda -thinks- he can read Otogi most of the time. He -has- met Joey, but only in passing, as one of Otogi's friends (not the best of circumstances, in other words). Thank you very much!

To Leaf Zelindor : -smiles- You are absolutely right about Seto. Thank you!

To hAdOwCat : Otogi can be weird sometimes, don't worry. Even -I- don't get him half the time. Thank you!

To Animefighter6 : They're getting there, I promise. Eventually. -winks- Thank you!

To Anonymous : -smiles and blushes- Thank you! I'll do my best.

To Suppis Tenshi : Hmm, Seto giving Joey a taste of his own medicine … it'd actually fit his character I think. In the abstract, anyway. Thank you very much! -smiles-

----------

Otogi liked to think of himself as unbiased and, in general, more inclined to befriend people than to alienate or make fun of them. He might have been annoyed by Honda being more or less forced onto him as a roommate (well, 'apartment-mate' might be a more proper term), and wish for the boy's uncle to drop dead at least once a day, but that didn't mean he hadn't given Honda a second look-over the next day. And the day after that.

The problem was that the result was always the same: Honda was a rather dull kind of person, who responded to Otogi's overtures with either oblivion (possibly faked, though Otogi wasn't entirely sure of that) or outright rejection.

Honda quite simply didn't -want- to become friends with Otogi. He didn't appreciate Otogi inquiring to his preferences in food, didn't take Otogi's working-hours into account on the evenings when it was his turn to cook, didn't stand up for Otogi against his uncle (which, implicitly, meant he had chosen his tyrannical relative's side against Otogi) ...

Otogi marveled at the fact he still hadn't gotten kicked out of the apartment, in favor of his employer's 'dear nephew'. Probably because they wanted to keep someone around to do the work ...

All right, so maybe he sounded a little bitter.

It was just that he absolutely loathed passive people; people who just stood by and watched life passing by without undertaking any sort of action to change it. And Honda was about the epitome of 'passive'.

No matter what Otogi said or did, whether he was being all sugary and sweet, or an absolute jerk, Honda remained silent, carrying on with whatever he had been doing at the moment Otogi tried to make contact, not showing the least spark of attention.

Until this evening.

_"And what great and astounding talents would -you- have, aside from looking pretty and being a complete pest?"_

Maybe he should stop laughing, but really, wasn't it ironic how, apparently, he -had- been getting to Honda all this time, without him even noticing he'd been successful?

Actually, now that he got to think about it, it was kind of pathetic. Otogi sighed, sobering up rather abruptly, facing a very confused-looking Honda.

He probably ought to give some sort of explanation, assure the poor guy Otogi hadn't been laughing -at- him. Though a confused Honda was a funny sight. And he wasn't exactly eager to launch into an analysis of his own behavior these past weeks.

So ... since he didn't feel like going on the defense ...

"You really think I'm pretty?" Otogi purred, briefly considering if he ought to bat his eyelashes, but discarding the idea, since it'd make him look girlish. Plus, it might be overdoing things.

If a confused Honda had been 'funny', an embarrassed Honda was 'hilarious'. Otogi sternly told himself he couldn't laugh. It'd completely ruin his offense.

"Well ... I ... that is ... you ... "

Honda was probably wondering if Otogi knew his last four crushes had all been male, if it was possible that Otogi was hitting on him, and, if he was, what -he- ought to do.

Otogi could have told him his uncle had informed him about his preferences. The man had apparently been somewhat concerned about Otogi for once, firmly telling him Otogi was under no obligation to sleep with his nephew, should Honda show any interest in him and that, if Honda bugged him, he should say something about it.

"Yes?" Otogi asked, his voice dripping honey. He was beginning to amuse himself, crushing the little voice that said that maybe he ought to be a bit friendlier, all things considered.

"I'mmovingouttomorrowsoIgottapack."

Otogi blinked, staring at the door that had been pulled shut behind Honda, wondering if he'd translated that string of syllables correctly.

_"I'm moving out tomorrow, so I got to pack."_

"He -can't- move out just when I've found out he isn't as dull as I thought!" Otogi protested to nobody in particular. "He -can't-."

-----

"Yugi? Are you all right?" Yugi blinked owlishly at his grandfather, the worried expression on his face and the question sinking in only slowly.

"S-sure. I'm fine." He smiled, to stress his point. His grandfather looked unconvinced, reaching out to lay a hand on his forehead.

"You seem a little flushed, like you've caught a fever or something. Maybe you should dress a little warmer. Or stay home tomorrow, just to make sure - "

"I'm perfectly all right, grandfather, really!" Yugi interrupted him. Overly polite Yugi, who always offered to help him in the household and was so civil that the old man sometimes despaired of his grandson ever having any fun.

"I played basketball with Yami!" Yugi flapped out next.

Yami ... not a name he'd heard too often before. "I thought you said you didn't like him very much, because he acted as if he was better than the rest of the world and treated Joey unkindly." The last thing would weigh far heavier with Yugi than any slight he himself might have received.

"Well, yes, but that was then." Yugi stared at his feet, apparently suddenly embarrassed about his enthusiasm. His grandfather sighed, wishing he'd been a little more quick to catch on to Yugi's mood.

"I'm glad to hear he turned out to be nicer than he seemed to be at first sight," he tried to amend.

Yugi looked up, his eyes regaining their sparkle. "He - " Then his shoulders slumped again, while he averted his gaze. "I think he's pretty. But still not very nice."

His grandfather smiled. "As long as you can still see his less pretty side, I don't see any reason for you to let your head hang down like you have anything to be ashamed of. Remember: people can change. More importantly, -you- can change people too. Maybe Yami has a reason for not being nice. Yet if you want to, perhaps you can give him a reason to become friendlier, convince him to a different attitude towards the world."

"Yes." Yugi breathed the word.

-----

Ryou gazed around the room he'd furnitured to serve as Honda's in satisfaction. At first, he'd been afraid he wouldn't be able to move anything as big as a table or bed on his own, and that he'd have to wait for Honda to ask his help. Apparently, he'd either underestimated his own strength, or overestimated the weight of the furniture.

The sound of the doorbell's ringing summoned him to the hall, waking slowly, wondering who would be visiting him this late in the evening. Very few people knew he lived here, after all, and fewer still lived near enough to drop by.

It might be Yugi, or his kind grandfather, though Ryou had no idea why either of them would come to his house without first making sure he'd be home. In theory, it could be Honda, who'd taken his leave of his room-mate a bit earlier. Or one of the neighbors, curious to see who was living in the apartment next to theirs ...

Ryou sent up a quick prayer to any deity who might be listening that it wouldn't be the last. It wasn't that he disliked meeting new people, truly, but ... he didn't enjoy having his rooms and belongings inspected as if he was some sort of new species people wanted to discover more about. He prefered getting to know people in a neutral environment first.

He opened the door, determinedly teling himself he was being foolish to fret this much. In all likeliness it was just ...

"Good evening ... Ryou, isn't it?"

He'd never seen the young man in front of him before today. Never. He was sure he'd remember someone like that, with long white hair (like his own), brown eyes (a bit darker than his own, but still rather much alike) and a pale skin (too, like his).

So why did he feel like he knew him? And, more importantly, why was the other acting like he knew Ryou?

"Nice apartment."

They weren't in the hallway anymore, though Ryou couldn't remember inviting the stranger in, or walking to the living-room. He felt dizzy, like the world was moving too fast for him to keep up with.

"Who ... " Great. His voice didn't even work properly anymore. -That-'d make a good first impression. Not that he was sure why he'd want to make one.

"Who I am?" A friendly hand was resting on his arm, guiding him to sit down on the couch. "You may call me ... Bakura. I'm your new house-mate."

A little white card was waved in front of his face. Ryou recognized it as the one he'd meant to post at the supermarket.

-tbc-


	17. Seventeen

Slam dunk

-----------------

Warnings/notes : AU, Yami/Yugi, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda and possibly slight Bakura/Ryou, oocness.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

written at 8th may 2004, by Misura

Thanks to the people who reviewed the sixteenth chapter :

To ChibiSerenity3 : That -would- seem to be the most logical and easy way to make everyone happy, wouldn't it? -winks- Not that I'm going to spoil the plot or something … thank you! -smiles-

To Ril : Maybe Ryou won't have to tell Honda anything … -grins- Thank you! -smiles-

To Amonae : How could I keep Bakuura out of this, while including Ryou? That just wouldn't work. -winks- Thank you! -smiles-

To FungiFungusRayne : -sweatdrops- Uhm, I guess that settles it then. Thank you! -smiles-

To Sei Kou Ki : -Of course- Bakura is nice to Ryou! -grins and winks- Maybe a little too nice … Thank you! -smiles-

To Kaira-chan : Miscommunication is just one of my favorite plot-tools I think. -grins- You'll catch another glimpse of Yami and Yugi's moment together in Yami's reflections this chapter, though they're kind of vague and fuzzy. Thank you very much! -smiles-

To Sarasusasamiga : Grandpa … you're right. Though of course, he might simply not want to freak out Yugi by freaking out himself. -coughs- Thank you! -smiles-

To FREAK014 : We're all guilty of something, aren't we? Thank you! -smiles-

To Seto-Kaiba's-Fan : Well, it's not really Ryou's fault, is it? Thank you! -smiles-

To Authoress formally knownas Liz : I agree about Yami. -winks- And thank you! -smiles-

To hAdOwCat : The future plot of this fic is for me to write, and for you to find out. -winks- Or something like that, hopefully. Thank you! -smiles-

To Joey baby : Seto and Joey are in this chapter. Good news? Thank you!

To Sarah Harvey : I -am- not very nice to some characters, am I? I'll make it up to them though, once I'm done being sadistic. -winks- Thank you! -smiles-

To Leaf Zelindor : I'd really prefer Otogi and Honda out of the closet. Pretty please? -winks- Thank you! -smiles-

To Animefighter6 : Thank you, I'll do my best.

To Crystal Blaize : There's more Bakura/Ryou this chapter -and- a Seto/Joey-scene, of sorts. Is that worth the candy? -puppy-eyes- Thank you! -smiles-

To Koyuki : I would, indeed, advise you not to try and act like Bakura. -grins- Bakura got the card when Ryou dropped it on his way back home, as mentioned in chapter … something. And yes, everything works out in the end. That's the joy of fanfiction. -winks- Thank you very much! -smiles-

To Snow Angel : Well, I wouldn't call Bakura 'small', really. -winks- Thank you! -smiles-

To Killian : Thank you! I enjoyed to write it too.

To Amarin Rose : Ryou reacts ooc, of course. -coughs- Thank you!

To Dyth : Thank you! Though 'ooc' is one of the warnings, I do try to evade it as much as possible, so pointers would be welcome. -smiles-

To twinklefaerie : Only Ryou's adorable? -coughs- Thank you!

To Anime Crazed : The answers to your questions are major spoilers so … read and find out (eventually), I guess. -winks- Thank you! -smiles-

To Suppis Tenshi : Ryou letting Bakura 'ravish' him? What an interesting idea. -winks and grins- Not getting into Bakura's head for the moment, I'm afraid. Though his actions may speak louder than words … thank you very much! -smiles-

To DarkShadowFlame : I see you've discovered the big plot underlying this whole story (which is that most of the characters are kind of insane). -coughs- Thank you very much! -smiles-

----------

Ryou wondered why he wasn't running to the phone to call the police and have them remove this ... stranger who had just sauntered into his apartment like he owned it. Instead, he was meekly sitting on the couch, while ... Bakura inspected the living-room, making some disparaging comments about the posters hanging on the wall.

"I can't say I'm impressed by your good taste," Bakura concluded, nestling himself into Ryou's favorite chair. "But it'll do nicely for the moment. I've seen worse. At least it's Egyptian."

Catching himself before he either thanked Bakura for that small praise, or snapped that this was -his- home and that he'd decorate it the way -he- wanted to, Ryou limited his response to a non-commital shrug and 'hm'.

"A bit on the shy side, aren't you?" Bakura peered at him like he was some alien species on display, there for Bakura to study. "That's okay, I don't mind."

Ryou'd bet he didn't. If he'd been a little more sure of himself, he'd been yelling at Bakura to get out, right now, and don't dare come back here ever again. Or at least calling for help.

"It's kind of cute." All right, that was it. Ryou was officially freaked out by the way Bakura was staring at him. Half a room suddenly didn't seem like that much of a distance to put between him and this ... weird guy.

Ryou's eyes felt rather heavy suddenly, and he found himself yawning. Woohoo. That was really going to make an impression on Bakura. A clear way to state his displeasure at Bakura's invasion of his property. What was -wrong- with him?

"You're right; it -is- rather late already, isn't it? Time to go to bed. Especially for a young thing like you." What was wrong with -Bakura- for that matter? He couldn't possibly think Ryou'd just let him get away with this, could he? And what was he doing, acting like he was that much older than Ryou?

"It'll be a bright new day tomorrow," Bakura declared, rising.

Tomorrow ... there was something he had to remember about that day, aside from the fact that it was a Saturday and that he didn't have to rise early to go to school. What was it again? Ah yes.

"Honda Hiroto's coming tomorrow," Ryou said. All right, so he kind of squeaked it. Still, it was an accomplishment to take pride in.

Bakura froze. The expression on his face wasn't exactly what Ryou'd call 'friendly'. Or 'sane'.

"Who?"

Ryou swallowed. "My -real- new house-mate." He lifted his head, defiantly, gaze firmly fixed on a point just left of Bakura's head.

"Oh, him." Bakura made a dismissive gesture. "I'll tell him he's not welcome anymore."

Ryou opened his mouth.

"Or, if you insist, we'll discuss things in the morning. You're tired," Bakura added, as some sort of explanation. "Unable to think too clearly."

That last was absolutely true, as proven by his putting up with Bakura's continued presence. Ryou nodded, suppressing another yawn as he stumbled towards his bed-room.

He thought he heard Bakura laughing softly behind him. He wasn't sure though, and he wasn't going to look back. He needed to sleep.

-----

Lying on his bed, Yami stared up at the ceiling of his room.

Seeing purple eyes that sparkled with silent laughter.

Hearing a soft voice, calling his name in a slightly breathless tone.

Feeling shy fingers darting over his hands, shyly, cautiously.

Since closing his eyes hadn't helped to get rid of these unwanted memories, he was now trying the 'gaze at nothing and empty your mind'-method. That didn't seem to work either.

Which was just plain ridiculous.

Sure, he'd enjoyed playing basket-ball with Yugi more than he'd expected. But that was no reason to feel this ... unsettled.

He'd practiced with Joey dozens of times, yet he'd never felt anything like -this-. He'd definitely never gotten any weird, vague dreams about Joey.

Maybe he ought to stay away from Yugi for a while, try to examine his feelings.

Or would it be better to spend -more- time with Yugi, to get rid of the newness of being around the boy? Yami was sure it was nothing beyond that; the sensation of having a new person to play against. A new, reasonably talented and skilled person, Yami amended magnanimously.

With a sigh, he checked his alarm-clock again.

Nearly midnight. A good thing it was weekend tomorrow.

-----

0:04

Probably not the most suitable of times to call someone over the phone.

If Joey'd even be still awake, he'd likely not be too overjoyed to hear from him.

If. Seto considered the chance of such a thing rather small.

Still, he -was- making the call, like he'd promised himself he would. Not his fault if Joey didn't answer. He had made the effort, at least.

0:06

No one had answered the phone yet. Predictably. He should give up now, satisfied in the knowledge that he'd -tried-. Even if 'giving up' was not an expression in his dictionary.

That much he and Joey had in common; neither of them was someone to give up. Once they'd decided to get something, they went after it with everything they had.

No second thoughts. No hesitations. No doubts.

Except, of course, that Joey appeared to -have- changed his mind. About wanting Seto.

"Hello?"

Not good. Someone - he thought it was Joey - had just picked up the phone.

"Would the moron who called this number at ... in the middle of the night please tell me who he is so that I can curse his name before I go back to bed?"

Yes, that definitely sounded like Joey.

"Good ... morning. Mutt."

Way to go. Insulting Joey when he already sounded grumpy and annoyed was sure to be a great way to start up a conversation about whether or not their relationship might evolve to some phase beyond the stalker/stalked one.

-tbc-

A/N : I will not be able to get on-line from Thurseday this week to the 16th of August, so the next update will be a while. Sorry if that bothers anyone.


	18. Eightteen

Slam dunk

------------------

Warnings/notes : AU, Yami/Yugi, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda and possibly slight Bakura/Ryou, oocness.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

written at 19th may 2004, by Misura

A big 'thank you!' to the people who reviewed the seventeenth chapter. I had the choice between posting this three days late (to add in personal replies and to wait for the updates has scheduled tomorrow and the day after that, which would disable posting for a while) or posting this now and, well, I chose the easiest way. Sorry.

[!] Please note that this fic does not have the pretense to take place in present-day Japan or any other modern country.

----------

Ryou woke up at eleven o'clock, which was a new record. Most often he woke up around seven, even on weekends and holidays. He guessed it was because his body was simply used to it, and because he rarely ever stayed up late.

Yesterday-evening ... Ryou frowned, trying to remember what time it had been. He had had some sort of visitor who ...

"Bakura!" How could he have forgotten about that creep? Worse yet, how could he not have protested more against the guy's staying in his home?

Spurting to the guest-room, Ryou silently rehearsed exactly what he was going to tell Bakura before kicking him out. He winced slightly at the sound of the door slamming against the wall, feeling an odd urge to apologize for waking Bakura this rudely.

He suppressed it, reasoning that Bakura's actions had more than warranted a little pay-back.

"Listen, I don't know how you managed to - " Ryou began, before abruptly closing his mouth, staring at the scene in front of him.

The lack of any clothing, hanging over the chair or lying on the floor.

The lack of any Bakura, asleep or otherwise.

The lack of any signs that the bed had been slept in at all.

It was as if Bakura had never been here at all. As if it had all been nothing but ...

"A dream?" Ryou blinked, closing the door to the guest-room behind him softly, heading for the bathroom for a nice, refreshing shower that would hopefully help to clear his head.

"Well, 'nightmare' may be a better term, all things considered."

-----

Joey had hung up on him.

It was impossible, illogical, unsufferable and undeniably true. Which didn't mean Seto had to -like- it any better, of course.

Because Joey wasn't supposed to hang up on him.

Joey should have been dancing around the room out of sheer joy at Seto making that much of an effort for him.

Such a reaction would have annoyed Seto, naturally, giving him yet another proof of how utterly foolish and immature the blonde was, but ... it would have been something he'd -expected-. As normal as rain being wet, or fire being hot.

Joey's current behavior was, quite simply, intolerable. Seto couldn't allow for it to continue.

And if Seto had decided on something, it would happen. Joey was no match for him when it came to strategy and tactics.

Which was why he was here, in a cafeteria he knew Joey to visit often on Saturday-mornings. Seeing the big poster that announced Saturday-morning to be 'Eat as many pancakes as you can for just - '-morning, he'd be willing to bet he knew the reason for that.

It really was a miracle the blonde looked as good as he did, with the way he kept stuffing himself, Seto mused, taking another sip of his coffee and sighingly checking his watch.

Not that he -personally- considered Joey to be good-looking, Seto hastily amended his previous thought. Just, well, people in general seemed to think so.

Seto didn't see Joey as being any more beautiful than, well, let's say Yami. Kind of. Though Joey was definitely the better-looking of the two. Yami was just ... too arrogant.

"I think I hear a stack of pancakes calling my name!"

Hm. It seemed Seto had been too distracted to notice that his single reason for coming here had arrived. He'd have to stay more focused in the future.

His coffee had gone from 'hot/warm' to 'luke/cold' too. Yet another indication that this was just going to be a fabulous morning.

Settling down to observe Joey digging into his stack of pancakes, Seto wished he'd brought a book or something else to do. He had the feeling it might be a good while before Joey would be finished.

And it wasn't like watching Joey eat (if you could call what Joey did by such a polite term) was an activity Seto enjoyed in any way.

-----

His uncle hadn't been too pleased to hear Honda was moving out. Ah well, the man's opinion wasn't really important to Honda that much anyway; he was pretty sure his sister and his parents would approve of him showing some 'independence'.

Especially after he'd assured them he -hadn't- moved in with his boyfriend, of course. Which would be the assumption they'd all make, if only because his uncle'd probably beat Honda to telling them the news.

The one person whose opinion Honda -wasn't- sure about (and really wanted to know too) was Otogi. They hadn't spoken another word after Honda had walked out on a rather strange-acting Otogi, so Honda wasn't even completely sure if Otogi was aware that he'd be having the apartment all to himself again today and the days after that.

Honda had lingered for a good few hours after breakfast to see if Otogi would turn up, but either the black-haired boy was extremely lazy, or he had been determined not to see Honda. At noon, Honda had left at last, leaving a note to explain things.

All in all though, Honda didn't feel too satisfied with the way things were going between him and Otogi. The other boy was simply too aloof, too hard to see through. Honda had lived with him for weeks, thinking Otogi to be a rather grumpy and negative person.

Last night, Otogi had seemed quite different. Without any good reason Honda could think of.

Perhaps, Honda mused, he ought to get a second opinion. Talking to someone who knew Otogi better than he did might give him some insight into Otogi's ways of thinking.

Ryou probably wouldn't be able to be of much help there, considering he'd only moved to Domino recently, but maybe someone else ...

In the back of his mind, Honda could almost hear his sister chiding him for always picking the most impossible people to get a crush on. He argued back at her that at least Otogi wasn't -her- boyfriend, or that of any other girl. Surely that was a hopeful sign?

By the time he'd reached the door to Ryou's apartment and rang the doorbell, Honda had convinced himself that Otogi and him were simply made for each other. He only needed to convince Otogi of that fact, a small and easy task, once he'd figured Otogi out.

tbc


	19. Nineteen short

Slam dunk

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Warnings/notes : AU, Yami/Yugi, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda, possibly slight Bakura/Ryou, oocness.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

written at 8th june 2004, by Misura

Thanks to the people who reviewed the eighteenth chapter :

To mandapandabug : Thank you for the long review. –smiles- Yes, I wonder how Joey stays so thin too sometimes. I guess he burns a lot of energy by doing … things?

To pisces071 : Thank you! –smiles-

To Seto-Kaiba's-Fan : -giggles- You're right; Kaiba –is- very brave. Thank you!

To DarkShadowFlame : Awww, but you –know- the line between 'soul-mate' and 'stalker' is but a thin one. You're right about characters having swinging moods though. I hope to do something about it. Thank you! –smiles-

To Star Light Shadow : It took me three whole seconds to get the 'car-company'-comment. –coughs and blushes- But hey, Honda's not that bad! At least, Otogi doesn't think so … Thank you!

To Pork Steak the Grande (and It and Sauruman) : I haven't seen an earwig all day, so I guess your wish of well-being worked. For which my sincere thanks. I wish I could thank you with a longer chapter and some Yami/Yugi-action but alas … sorry. My muses are scared of going back to school too. –winks-

To FREAK014 : Why not strawberries -and- him? –smiles dreamily- Thank you!

To Kami Beverly : We-ell, I think the problem is that they -aren't-. –coughs- Sorry, my mind's in the gutter. Thank you!

To Flame Rhiannon : Thank you! –smiles-

To Koyuki : Ooh, I –like- that idea. –winks and grins- Thank you!

To Reppu : We-ell, I kind of ended this fic at the twenty-fifth chapter in the drafts. Which would make it the most-chaptered fic I ever wrote. I'm really bad at ending long fics though. –blushes- Thank you very much! You'll find out some of Joey's feelings in this chapter.

To Keioko-chan : Thank you! –smiles-

To Kaira-chan : Sometimes, I swear you can read my mind. Not wholly, but pretty close to it. –smiles- Thank you!

To Suppis Tenshi : -blushes and beams- Thank you! You'll find out where Yami and Yugi are this chapter, though Bakura … he's just a mystery-guy. –grins-

To hAdOwCat : I'll try to update every Monday, as before. Thank you!

To Lil'wystynyra : Thank you! Glad to hear you liked it.

To firey punk girl : -huggles Yugi-plushie- Thank you! I'm aiming for twenty-five chapters, so yes, things should develop pretty soon.

xxxxxxxxx

Considering Ryou'd been spending the past few hours convincing himself that his meeting with Bakura had been nothing more than a weird dream, his first thought at the sound of the doorbell should -not- have been 'Bakura's back!'.

Something of his emotions must have shown on his face as he opened the door (to discover, of course, that his visitor was Honda, exactly as he should have expected). Honda took one step back, eyeing him a little curious.

"Uhm, I'm Honda Hiroto, remember? We talked yesterday."

"Of course. Come on in!" Ryou managed a smile, which, he sourly considered, probably didn't do much to improve Honda's first impression of him.

"Sorry if I'm early," Honda said.

Ryou was about to reply that half past twelve was hardly 'early', when he recognized the remark for an offered explanation of his slightly strange behavior. Thus, he changed his answer to: "That's fine," adding a defensive "I'm usually awake much earlier than this,".

Honda nodded, apparently accepting this. "It must be pretty busy, going to school -and- doing the household. I hope I'll be able to help you out a bit."

"Let me show you your room," Ryou offered, determined to be a perfect host from now on. To Honda, at least. If Bakura'd ever show his face again, Ryou had some choice words to say to him.

Not that he expected a person who only existed in a -dream- to show up on his doorstep, of course. That'd be ... freaky. And freaky things like that only happened in movies and books.

In the real world, there wasn't anyone who looked almost identical to Ryou.

Right?

"There's another closet in the store-room, if you need one. Or if you don't like this one," Ryou remarked absently, as Honda inspected his room.

"This one's fine. As long as I can store my stuff in it, I don't really care. I'm not really a closet-kind of guy." Honda grinned.

Ryou felt like he'd just missed some sort of cue. Maybe he should have stayed in bed a little longer after all. Or maybe he'd had -too much- sleep. He'd heard neither was very healthy.

xxxxx

Carefully rehearsing the conversation he intended to have with Yugi, about basketball, doing homework together and, perhaps, going to see a movie sometime, Yami checked the adress on his paper one last time with the number on the mail-box. They matched.

This morning, he'd called Anzu, to ask her for Yugi's adress. The two of them weren't nearly as well-acquainted as Yami and Joey, or even Yami and Otogi, but Anzu -was- a basketball-player, which distinguished her from the horde of other students. Added to that was the fact that Anzu was far less likely to pester him about his reasons for wanting to know Yugi's adress.

She -had- asked him about it, of course, with typical female curiosity, yet only -after- she'd already given him the adress. He had replied that it wasn't any of her business and thanked her politely for her help.

Perhaps Anzu was simply too kind-hearted for her own good, Yami mused. She didn't gossip, didn't giggle overly annoying, played basketball better-than-average ... all in all, it was a miracle she didn't have a boyfriend yet.

Unless, of course, she and Yugi were ...

Yami shook his head, determinedly shoving those thoughts out of his mind. He had decided that spending some more time with Yugi would help him get rid of these strange feelings he got whenever Yugi was around, which meant that he -would- spend time with Yugi, whether the boy had a girlfriend or not.

Schooling his face to a politely friendly mask, Yami rang the doorbell.

He was somewhat surprised to be faced by an old man as it opened. Had Anzu given him the wrong adress? Or, an only slightly more appealing option, was Yugi's family visiting today?

Yami had hoped to speak with Yugi in private, without a nosy audience. It was, he had told himself, one of the main-reasons for his having waited for the weekend. At school, it was utterly impossible to keep a conversation secret.

The old man, who still hadn't said anything, looked Yami up and down, before speaking.

"You must be Yami."

So. At least it appeared he was at the right house. And ... Yugi had told his visiting grandparents about him? Yami wasn't sure if he should feel flattered or embarrassed.

"I am. And you must be Yugi's grandfather." Yami nodded, hoping his tone was polite enough to be let inside, while also cool enough not to invite further questions.

"I assume you're here to see Yugi." The old man didn't quite ask him anything outright, but he -was- still blocking Yami's entrance. Yami got the impression that if he didn't offer some answers first, Yugi's grandfather would just keep standing where he was.

Considering how shy and absurdly friendly Yugi acted most of the time, it was hard to imagine this old man being his grandfather.

"I am here for Yugi, yes." Yami didn't add 'and I'm not here to be cross-examined by you, so let me pass'. He might have, if he'd have thought it'd have made any -positive- difference, but that didn't seem very likely. "Is he home?"

A rather big flaw in his planning, to fail to check that first. As was, of course, failing to know about the visiting relatives, though Yami realized Yugi might not have told anyone about that. With a grandfather as unkind as this ...

"He is home," the old man informed him. Yami patiently waited for him to continue to offer to call Yugi. A good thirty seconds passed in silence, before Yami swallowed a bit of his pride.

"Could you tell him I'm here?" Yami asked. "Please?"

"Of course." The old man smiled and disappeared, closing the door in Yami's face.

Yami glared at the merrily shining sun. Today was beginning to look like a very bad day.

xxxxx

Joey had noticed Seto the moment he walked into the cafeteria. Had he noticed Seto a moment earlier, he might have been tempted not to go in at all and settle for a less ... nutritious breakfast, but as it was, he'd decided to simply pretend he hadn't seen Seto.

Considering Seto's low opinion of him, the other boy probably wouldn't even -consider- the possibility that Joey'd seen him, sulking in a corner with a cup of coffee. And, admittedly, if Joey hadn't possessed something of a sixth sense when it came to Seto, he might have missed seeing the other.

Halfway through his first stack of pancakes, Joey could almost feel Seto's eyes burning holes in the back of his jacket. It felt ... odd, to have Seto studying him so intensely. Odd, but not entirely unpleasant.

At first, Joey had wanted to ignore Seto. He'd intended to eat as many pancakes as he could, and then leave, playing the 'dumb mutt' Seto thought him to be. Now though, he was beginning to get second thoughts.

Although he -was- curious what Seto's next action would be if Joey'd leave without acknowledging his presence, Joey also preferred to get some clarity about what Seto thought he was doing. Of course, there did exist a remote possibility that Seto had -accidentally- ended up in the same cafeteria as Joey, at exactly the same time and at exactly the right table to watch everyone without drawing much attention himself.

Knowing Seto, there wasn't much of a chance at a coincidence like that. If there was anything Joey had learned about the boy, it was that Seto planned nearly everything in advance. It had made following him around a lot easier. All he'd needed to do was to learn Seto's schedule by heart.

Seto's schedule had never, in all of the time Joey'd 'known' him, included having breakfast in a cafeteria. Or calling Joey in the middle of the night.

Which could only lead to the conclusion that Seto had -changed-, for some reason.

And Joey was going to find out why.

tbc


	20. Twenty

Slam dunk

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Warnings/notes : AU, Yami/Yugi, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda, possibly slight Bakura/Ryou, oocness.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

written at 13th june 2004, by Misura

Thanks to the people who reviewed the nineteenth chapter :

To Yugi's Girl006: -blushes- Thank you! If Bakura really is a threat to Honda … well, Bakura -did- leave, didn't he? (He'll be back, of course.)

To ChibiSerenity3: Thank you! –smiles-

To Seto-Kaiba's-Fan: Well, if he's a dog, Joey isn't an -old- one, you know. He can learn new tricks. –smiles and winks- Thank you!

To Koyuki: Sorry, no rushing the romance. Grandpa doesn't -hate- Yami; he's just … protective. Yugi has mentioned that Yami looks pretty on the outside but has some small personality-faults (or something along those lines) so … -giggles at the mental image of Bakura jumping out of a closet- Thank you!

To Snow Angel: How can you say discovering Bakura is real would be an 'unpleasant surprise' for Ryou? Well, canon aside, of course. –coughs- But yes, Otogi's in for a nice surprise. Anzu … well, I do my best, though I do think of her as a cheergirl. A nice, supportive one, that is. Thank you!

To Sansi: Oh, just that Yami's looks were nicer than his behavior. –winks- Thank you!

To FungiFungusRayne: Some questions will never be answered … and some are in the rest of this fic. Thank you!

To WolfBane2: You can't sense the deep love Bakura has for the people of the world? Aw! –winks- Thank you!

To firey punk girl: Was there ever any doubt about all of them hooking up? Be at ease, please. –smiles- Thank you!

To Amonae: Bakura … is a bit of a mystery. He'll remain that way until the end of the fic, I'm afraid. Thank you!

To mandapandabug: Nonono, I don't want to upset Seto. I need him to be happy and relaxed, to confess his deepest feelings to Joey. –sniffles- Today is not a M.U.S.T.-day. And I'm sorry for sticking to updating every Monday, but it's just … comfortable that way. Thank you!

To Crystal Blaize: You compare me with fast food that's bad for you? –giggles- Too soon for a kiss, but we're getting there. Thank you!

To Sarsusasamiga: Glad to hear you enjoyed it (though I've no idea why the Author Alert-thingie didn't work). Concerning turns of phrase … well, I'm sure -I- borrowed them from someplace too. I simply feel flattered my writing apparently stuck in your head so much. –blushes- Thank you!

To Tara-Jamina: Patience is a virtue.

To Alessa Embers: Just five more chapters … thank you!

To Strawberry Vanilla: Hmm, I'm afraid your review got cut off so … thank you! –smiles-

To Keioko-Chan: I hope this update will make you happy too. –smiles-

To Kaira-chan: Thank you very much! I did consider Joey just leaving, but since he had noticed Seto, it seemed … unlike him to do that. Especially since Seto obviously thinks Joey hasn't seen him, which would, in my interpretation, make Joey want to show him that Seto underestimates him. –blinks and wonders if that made any sense-

To FREAK014: Never enough sleep? Well … five-thousand years in a Puzzle does sound like a good, long rest to me, really. Maybe a little too long. Thank you!

To pisces071: Glad to hear you're enjoying my favorite pairing! –smiles-

To Star Light Shadow: Yami and Yugi are obviously going to get together. It is their destiny! –winks- Thank you!

To hAdOwCat and Yana5: Sorry to hear you didn't like Grandpa's protectiveness. HAdOwCat, I hope you'll enjoy this new chapter. Yana5, sorry to hear you disliked the fic so intensely.

To Aramis-chan: We-ell, 'settled' is maybe too big a word. 'Wrapped up', yes. And thank you for sympathizing with Seto! –smiles-

To radiany: It's always nice to hear someone loved a piece of mine. (As well as to hear they didn't, with a suggestion for improvement.) So … thank you very much! –beams-

To Kyoko Komiashi, Ril and Vapidbreath: Thank you! I do my best to update every Monday, though the chapter-lengths vary. –smiles guiltily-

To The Chaotic Ones (Aaries, Angel, Chaos and Jef): I'm making Bakura … ooc? –smiles nervously- You don't like the way I wrote him? Grandpa isn't displeased with Yami; he's simply protective of Yugi. Thank you! –smiles-

To Amarin Rose: Bakura … is a mystery, even to me. –coughs- Thank you!

To Flame Rhiannon: -looks a bit worried- I do write more stuff than this you know. I update this ideally weekly, on Mondays. I'm glad to hear you like this fic so much, though I hope I won't make you miserable by yet more stalling. Thank you! –smiles-

To Anime Crazed: Of course Joey's smart in reality! How you could ever doubt that … -winks- Thank you!

To Kiawna: Thank you! –smiles-

To Rikainiel: I think Yami deserved a bit of obstruction, and yes, he'll be recompensed by getting to spend time with Yugi. Thank you! –smiles-

To DarkShadowFlame: Sorry to disappoint you; this chapter's kind of short and bridging again. Thank you! (Though I did -not- need the mental image of Bakura opening people's heads. –winks and looks a little green-)

To Suppis Tenshi: Thank you! –smiles-

To AardvarkArrow: Thank you! I'd happily write Anzu some romance too but there simply didn't seem to be anyone left. –sweatdrops-

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Yugi looked up from the book he was reading as his grandfather knocked on the open door to his room to get his attention. He was actually supposed to be reading something for Literature, but ... he was afraid he'd fall asleep if he'd try to read that now.

Exactly what he'd dreamt about, Yugi couldn't recall. Only that he'd woken up far from well-rested and refreshed. His grandfather had worriedly asked if he was feeling ill this morning at breakfast. Yugi had reassured him he felt perfectly all right.

"I'm surprised to still see you here, doing homework," his grandfather remarked. There was a slight twinkle in the old man's eyes, as if he knew some secret that Yugi had tried to keep hidden from him. Yugi had no idea what that secret might be though.

"Where would I be going?" Yugi asked curiously, closing his book with a slightly guilty blush.

"Well, didn't Anzu call you?" There was a slight emphasis on Anzu's name. "I thought that maybe the two of you would be going somewhere ... "

Yugi groaned. "Not you too! We're just friends, grandfather, that's -all-. She wanted to tell me about ... something. She's -not- my girlfriend."

His grandfather winked. "That's what -I- said to my parents too, after I'd first told them about your dear grandmother. But meanwhile ... " The old man chuckled and shook his head.

"I'd -tell- you if I was feeling that way about someone," Yugi stated sincerely. "Like I also told you about Yami."

"Oh. Yes, Yami. That reminds me; he's here." His grandfather shrugged, apparently not thinking too much of it.

It took a few second for the meaning of those words to register.

"What? Now? Here? Why didn't you say so sooner? Where is he?" Yugi shot up. His grandfather eyed him curiously, and Yugi forced himself to calm down.

"I was under the impression that the two of you were barely friends yet, and since you were busy talking to Anzu, I told him to wait outside. I suppose he's still there. Unless he's left."

For a moment, the old man was afraid Yugi'd scream. Or try to strangle him.

"Well, -you- were busy talking to Anzu. I didn't want to disturb you," he added, as an explanation. "Girls can be so very sensitive about things like that, you know."

His words were spoken to empty air. Yugi had spurted past him, probably to open the door for Yami.

"I'd almost begin to think ... " Yugi's grandfather sighed and shook his head. "Maybe I'm simply too old to understand young people anymore."

Yugi's voice, slightly shrill, drifted upwards from the hall, inviting Yami to come on in. Yami's voice, somewhat deeper, answered him, thanking Yugi and assuring him no harm had come to him from standing outside waiting for a little while.

The old man wondered if he ought to go and play chaperone for the two boys. He knew Yugi could be a little shy in company, and judging by the way he'd spoken about Yami earlier, Yugi didn't feel as comfortable in Yami's company as he did in Anzu's or Joey's.

Then again, he'd also tried to keep Yami so that Yugi and Anzu could finish their conversation properly, instead of Yugi being forced to break it off. And -that- hadn't turned out too well.

Sighing, Yugi's grandfather decided that maybe he should try not to meddle and make an even bigger mess of things. Whether or not there was something going on between either Yugi and Anzu, or Yugi and Yami, it might be best to simply wait and see how things would turn out.

Yugi was capable of holding his own. And the boy knew that his grandfather'd always be there when Yugi needed help. Perhaps he should be satisfied with that.

Besides, Yami'd hardly attempt anything untowards in Yugi's own house. -That- much Yugi's grandfather had picked up from all those teen-movies he'd watched.

xxxxx

"Hasn't anyone ever told you how annoying it is to be stalked?" Joey inquired, dropping down in a chair at Seto's table without so much as a 'by your leave'.

A small voice in the back of Seto's mind pointed out that he should be glad Joey was actually talking to him again, instead of ignoring him like the days before. Seto determinedly ignored it.

"I'd hardly think -you- have any right to complain to me about such a thing." Seto attempted to stress his nonchalance and control of the situation by taking a sip of coffee, only to find it had gone cold. Its taste made him grimace. "Besides, I'm not stalking you."

"Right," Joey snorted. "I happen to know your habits, Kaiba. Visiting some cheap cafeteria for a cup of coffee as breakfast isn't one of them."

"People change," Seto replied coolly. "As -you- should know."

"Is that a complaint?" Joey grinned, obviously enjoying himself. "Are you missing me hanging on your every word and declaring my undying love for you?"

"Hardly. The opposite would be closer to the truth." Seto shoved his half-full cup of coffee away with an abrupt motion. "You are reading too much into this ... coincidence."

"You do like using big words, don't you?" Joey rose, a grin still plastered on his face. "Well, I was planning to go to the arcade this afternoon and maybe see a movie this evening. So ... are you coming along?"

Seto narrowed his eyes. "Why would I be interested in wasting my time with you? I have much better things to do."

"Movie starts at seven," Joey informed him, shrugging into his jacket. "I guess I can count on you not showing up by the theater around that time by 'coincidence' then, can't I?"

Seto glared at him.

"Don't be late on our first date!" Joey warned him, as he walked away, with much more confidence than he actually felt. Still, Seto -had- shown up. At exactly the day after Otogi had 'casually' dropped the adress of this place as Joey's favorite place to breakfast in a conversation taking place just within hearing distance of Seto.

Making a mental note to thank Otogi if Seto would indeed show up at the movie-theater, Joey began to whistle. He might be getting his hopes up too early, but ... it was much too tempting to believe that everything was going to turn out exactly the way Otogi had predicted.

xxxxx

It was perfectly, utterly silent in the apartment.

The gameshop under it had closed its doors for the day some time ago, enabling Otogi to spend the afternoon on improving his game and going over the comments Yugi and Joey had made after their last try-out session.

At least, the peace and quiet -should- have enabled him to concentrate on doing those things. Instead, Otogi kept having the feeling like something was missing. Or someone.

After half an hour of staring at flying dice, Otogi made an angry movement with his right hand that was still holding the mouse, which caused the screen of his computer to go back to showing him the string of code he had written yesterday.

Sighing, Otogi shut down his computer and grabbed his cell-phone to call Joey. With any luck, the blonde would be angry at him for faultily predicting Kaiba to show up at Joey's favorite cafeteria. Otogi didn't mind Joey yelling at him, really. It was just part of Joey's personality to be rather ... expressive in indicating displeasure.

Besides, Otogi was still feeling a little guilty over painting such an exaggeratedly optimistic and unrealistic picture of Kaiba's feelings for Joey, so he felt that perhaps he deserved a bit of yelling. As long as Joey wouldn't go back to being depressed, Otogi could take some verbal abuse.

tbc


	21. Twentyone

Slam dunk

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Warnings/notes : AU, Yami/Yugi, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda, possibly slight Bakura/Ryou, oocness.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

written at 19th June 2004, by Misura

A very, very big 'thank you!' to the people who reviewed the twentieth chapter. There were over 25 of them, which means I won't reply to each of them individually (sorry!), but thank you all very much.

xxxxxxxx

To call, or not to call. That was the question keeping Anzu Mazaki from finishing checking her book-report one last time before deciding it was ready to be submitted coming Monday.

It was a good five hours after her phone-conversation with Yugi, in which she'd felt obliged to let him know that Yami had asked her for Yugi's address, assumedly so that Yami would be able to drop by for a visit later this weekend. Or not.

Anzu had to admit that she didn't know Yami all that well. His motivations were something of a mystery to her, especially the ones for his cold behavior towards other people, which often bordered on rudeness. She trusted him enough to believe that he didn't intend any harm to Yugi, yet that was about it.

As a reason to tell him where Yugi lived, it had sufficed, but to enable her to guess at his reasons for wanting this information, it wasn't even a start. His reasons for calling -her-, instead of Joey, evaded her as well.

Any other person, Anzu would have asked, expecting a straight answer. And probably getting one too, since she could be quite persistent, if she put her mind to it.

Her gaze wandered to the phone. She told herself she wasn't merely curious; if the tone in which Yugi had spoken about Yami was any indication, she had every cause for some concern as well.

Yami might not -intend- to hurt Yugi, and even go as far as to seek him out, but that didn't mean by far that he answered Yugi's feelings. Or would react positively to them if he'd find out.

Yami was neither diplomatic nor overly mindful of other people's sensitivities. One careless, casual remark from him could mean a world of difference to Yugi. And since Anzu was responsible for Yami's visit, she felt it would also be -her- fault if Yami did anything to upset Yugi. At least partially.

On the other hand, maybe she was thinking too negatively.

Maybe Yami had simply wanted to be able to drop by to invite Yugi for a game of basketball during the weekend.

Better yet, maybe Yami -did- answer Yugi's feelings. Maybe he had planned to come and declare Yugi his undying love and devotion, after which the two of them would seal their newfound affection by a kiss.

It would be positively criminal of her to interrupt such a moment by calling, simply because she was being an over-worried, nosy pessimist. She'd never forgive herself.

Anzu sighed, deciding she needed a distraction from these speculations that would lead to nothing. Tossing her book-report in her schoolbag, she grabbed her jacket.

Joey could usually be found in the arcade around this time. Though Anzu wasn't overly fond of most of the games there (aside from Dance Dance Revolution), Joey's company would probably keep her mind off Yugi. Perhaps she could even get him to stop moping over whatever Kaiba had done to him.

xxxxx

"And once again, Ryuuji Otogi leaves all competition behind him as he finishes first, setting a new track-record!" Otogi cheered, smugly typing in his name as the new 'world-champion'.

Joey rolled his eyes. "You were simply lucky, that's all. If I hadn't slipped in that last curve ... "

"If you hadn't slipped, you'd have been a much better driver than you are," Otogi declared, waving aside Joey's protests. "I'll admit that picking up that power-up was a stroke of good luck, although ... I do seem to recall a similar power-up showing up in front of -your- car. Only -you- evaded it, since you thought it was one of those trap-things."

"They do look alike," Joey complained.

"At first sight, perhaps. A little," Otogi conceded. "Which goes to prove that not only am I more favored by Lady Luck, I also possess better and faster reflexes."

"Not to mention modesty," Joey muttered.

"Guys ... " Anzu started.

"Modesty is but one of my many virtues," Otogi agreed with Joey, who threw him a dirty look.

"Riiiight." Joey snorted.

"-Guys-!" Anzu repeated, managing to catch both boys' attention this time. For a good two seconds, at least.

"You're right, Anzu; I shouldn't rub in the fact of my superior skills this much," Otogi winked.

"Your ... hah!" Joey crossed his arms over his chest. "Let's see if you still talk that way after a game of - "

"-Guys-!" Anzu stamped her feet, more than a little fed up with the two boys. "Unless I'm hallucinating, I think Kaiba just strolled into the arcade."

xxxxx

Seto frowned, his gaze wandering around the arcade, searching for any sign of Joey's presence. A small voice in the back of is mind pointed out that he could have simply followed Joey from the cafeteria, but ... that would have made him look like he was stalking Joey or something.

Like he was acting as if he was as foolishly in love with Joey as Joey had been with him.

How the blonde currently felt about him, Seto didn't quite know. That remark about Seto surely not wanting to show up late for their 'date', had definitely sounded like the 'old' Joey.

Except, of course, that Seto'd never gone on any kind of date with Joey. Nor had given Joey any indication that he ever would.

Seto had to admit -grudgingly- that his appearance at Joey's favorite cafeteria might have been constructed as such an indication. Joey might not be too intelligent, yet he was smart enough to figure out that their meeting hadn't been a coincidence.

Though it had certainly been an accident, as far as Seto was concerned. Joey hadn't been supposed to spot him at all.

Which meant ... what?

He had gone to that cafeteria to watch Joey, without wanting to be seen. Granted, that was different from the way Joey had acted around him, since Joey never bothered to try to remain unnoticed (which would have been hard to pull off for the by nature lively and noisy mutt anyway), but still ...

Where -was- Joey anyway? This was the only arcade in town and although it was somewhat crowded, Seto should have been able to locate Joey by now, if he was present at all.

He'd already seen Mazaki and Otogi, who appeared to be in the middle of a game of what had to be the most embarrassing game to play in public, Dance Dance Revolution. They actually managed not to look like complete idiots, to Seto's slight surprise.

Though he vaguely recalled that Mazaki was following dancing lessons of some sort, so he supposed that might work to her advantage.

Hearing a soft sound coming from behind him, which sounded suspiciously much like someone trying to sneak up on him, Seto spun around, only to feel his eyes being covered by two hands.

"Guess who?" a cheerful voice asked.

Well. Apparently he could stop searching for Joey.

tbc

A/N: Reading this back, it feels like filler to me. –looks unhappy- Sorry if it feels that way to anyone else too.


	22. Twentytwo

Slam dunk

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Warnings/notes : AU, Yami/Yugi, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda, possibly slight Bakura/Ryou, oocness.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

written at 25th june 2004, by Misura

A big 'thank you!' to Humor Nut, VampssAmby10210, Reppu, Flame Rhiannon, Yana5, Seto-Kaiba's-Fan, Killian, Sabishii-sama (see? Puppy-eyes work), Suppis Tenshi, Sansi, Anime Ali (-protectively huggles her Anzu-muse-), FREAK014 (a glimpse of them in here), legansimay, mandapandabug (actually, I use Tea, Tristan and Duke's japanese names in this. Because I'm unable to put the accent on Tea. It's a personal preference, which I hope doesn't bug people too much.), StrawberryVanilla, LucidScreamer (hope you get well soon!), Snow Angel (-grins-), Amarin Rose (sorry, we make a time-jump this chapter), Kyoko Komiashi, pisces071, hAdOwCat (read and find out), radiany (thank you for the analysis of the problem. It might not help this particular story much, but it's definitely something I'll bear in mind. And –blushes-), Selene (not forgotten, I assure you), Johnny Depp luv (uhm, you did read the notes, didn't you?), Anime Crazed (-nods- Anzu is a quite intelligent girl), Pork Steak the Grande & co. (you're the first person ever to call me a 'cool cat'. I feel special now. –winks-), DarkShadowFlame (sorry for kind of disappointing you in the Yami/Yugi-department), Koyuki (no, sorry), Ril, Crystal Blaize, Kiawna (you're not the only one who wants to know that … or who will probably be disappointed by this chapter), firey punk girl, Nature-Boy (say 'please'?), The Chaotic Ones, Kaira-chan (I think he'd be good at it, though I've no idea why. Anzu'd be better I think) and Nez (it saddnes me to hear you say so. Because, well, that should be -normal-.)

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Honda hummed softly as he walked down the stairs. He and Ryou had spent most of the day decorating Honda's room, moving some furniture that had been too heavy for Ryou to handle on his own and hanging up some more posters.

Ryou had told Honda about his father, who was working on some archaeological project in Egypt and wouldn't return home for another sixteen months. Honda had opined that was a very long time, especially after hearing it had been nearly as many months since Ryou had actually met his father face to face, rather than seen him by webcam or talked to him over the phone.

His first impulse had actually been jealousy at Ryou's freedom, but ... though Honda's family could be way too nosy and worried about him sometimes, he wouldn't want to miss them for over a year. A few weeks or months would be like heaven on earth perhaps, yes.

Ryou had shrugged, stating that there wasn't much he could do about it. The expression on his face hadn't been too cheerful, so Honda had regaled him with a silly tale about the events that had taken place at his last family-dinner, upon which his aunt had inquired to his sister's boyfriend when the marriage was going to be.

Honda had never seen his sister look so murderous, or his uncle so red, due to having to hold in his laughter. The poor groom-to-be had fled the room, which went to prove that the dates Honda's sister picked didn't possess much of a backbone overall.

Ryou had laughed -well, smiled, actually- at the end, though there still was a hint of longing lingering in his eyes. Fortunately, Honda had been able to change the subject to the matter of tonight's dinner after that.

Since neither of them had been feeling energetic enough to cook, it was agreed upon that Honda would go out to buy some groceries, amongst which coffee, which Honda was addicted to, but Ryou never drank, and the ingredients for tomorrow's dinner, that would be prepared by Honda. Meanwhile, Ryou would order a pizza.

Honda sensed Ryou had definitely gotten the better part of their bargain.

"Are you Honda Hiroto?"

Honda snapped out of his reveries, barely in time to keep from stumbling over the outstretched leg of a white-haired boy that stood leaning against the wall, in a spot that, Honda would observe later, gave him a perfect view on Ryou's apartment without being visible to the apartment's inhabitants.

"What if I am?" Honda inquired aggressively. He knew a bully when he saw one, and he wasn't the type to put up with one. Besides, acting submissive only encouraged them.

"You're living with Ryou ... " It wasn't quite a question. Or a statement. It also was about the last thing Honda had expected to hear. He made a mental note to ask Ryou about this guy.

Possibly -just possibly- he was some sort of relative to his new housemate. The black sheep of the family Tsukiyono, so to speak. That would definitely explain why he referred to Ryou by his first name. And why he looked so much like Ryou, on the surface.

Beating up Ryou's cousin or, rather more unlikely, brother probably wouldn't be a very good idea. Beating up some creep who was picking on Ryou because he knew Ryou to be a meek and gentle person who lived on his own, on the other hand ...

"Yeah. So?" Honda shrugged, doing his best to appear relaxed and nonchalant.

The white-haired boy's gaze studied him for a moment. Honda tensed, his instincts screaming at him to get ready to fight. Or flee. He forced himself to remain standing as he was.

"I was curious what you'd be like." The strange boy nodded, more to himself than to Honda.

Honda walked on, considering the conversation to be over. When he turned his head, there was nobody there.

xxxxx

"Yami has invited me over for tomorrow," Yugi remarked over dinner.

"Oh?" his grandfather answered, careful to keep his voice neutral. He didn't want to outrigt forbid Yugi to do anything, but ...

"He's really ... " Yugi blushed, apparently at a loss for an adjective to properly describe Yami. His grandfather could think of some, though he didn't think any of them was one that Yugi'd consider using.

The old man sighed. "I thought we'd agreed that Yami had both good and bad aspects to his personality."

Yugi stared at him in confusion. "Well, yes." He frowned. "Does that mean I can't go? I alrady told him I'd come. If it was okay with you," Yugi added quickly. "My homework's nearly all done."

"I'm glad to hear so," his grandfather replied dryly. Concern about Yugi's -homework- was about the last reason why he was a bit reluctant to give his permission. "So ... what did you intend to do?"

"Do?" Yugi asked.

"At Yami's ... house," his grandfather explained. "Are his parents there too? Does he want to introduce you to his family?"

"No, his parents are almost never at home," Yugi shook his head, wondering what was on his grandfather's mind. "We didn't exactly talk about what to do. The usual, I guess. Watch a movie. Play basketball. Or some other game. Yami says he's got a lot of games on his computer. Because you can play those by yourself, and his parents wanted him to have something to do."

"Hmmm. Just don't be home too late. He didn't invite you to sleep over, did he?" What did Yami -want-? Yugi was willing to make friends with everyone, but the more he heard about Yami, the more the boy sounded like someone who preferred his own company to that of others. Probably his parents were partially responsible for that, if Yugi's words were anything to go by, but still ...

Why was Yami so eager to get Yugi alone?

"Of course not! Why would he?" Yugi blinked.

xxxxx

The stars were shining brightly, it wasn't raining and a cool breeze kept the evening fom being either too hot or too cold. It was, in short, a perfect evening for a romantic walk.

"You don't -have- to walk me home, you know," Joey observed. Seto wondered if Joey wanted him to say something along the lines that yes, Seto did have to walk Joey home, because he loved him.

In which case, Joey was in for a disappointment. The mutt should be used to them by now, he supposed. Maybe he enjoyed them ... considering he was still acting like he was in love with Seto.

"I know," Seto answered curtly.

"So ... then why? Not just the walking-home-part, I mean. All of it. Why are you suddenly talking to me as if I were another human being?" Joey inquired.

Seto shrugged. "When you stopped stalking and making pathetic attempts to huggle me all the time, I realized something."

"You missed me doing that?" Joey sounded surprised.

Seto rolled his eyes. "Of course not!"

They walked on in silence for a few moments, before Seto explained himself.

"I realized that you -did- have a serious side, in spite of you seeming to lack one. That maybe you ... -meant- all those outrageous things you said to me previously. Not entirely, obviously, but at least a little."

Joey snorted. "So, simply put, as long as I made you declarations of love on a daily base, you didn't believe them. But the moment I started ignoring you, you did."

"You over-simplify," Seto sputtered. Put like that, he sounded like an idiot.

"Maybe. It's still kind of messed up though," Joey stated. Then he added, with a grin: "You -are- aware I'll use this knowledge against you, aren't you?"

Seto stiffened slightly, staring questioningly at Joey, who winked.

"Hey, if a meagre few weeks of silence-treatment earn me a dinner-date, I wonder what two months of it will net me."

"Don't you dare!" Seto growled.

"Can you give me a good reason not to?" Joey challenged. Before Seto could think of one, he opened the door to the apartment he shared with his father and vanished inside, leaving Seto alone with the question. And the stars.

tbc


	23. Twentythree short

Slam dunk

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Warnings/notes : AU, Yami/Yugi, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda, possibly slight Bakura/Ryou, oocness.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

written at 26th june 2004, by Misura

Thanks to Snow Angel (we-ell, I think Seto does hate it when people ignore him. Not exactly the silent treatment, perhaps, but he's better at ignoring people himself than in putting up with people ignoring him, I think), Yana5, Kiawna (Yami -is- in this chapter, yes), DarkShadowFlame (Duel Yugi? But I'd lose really bad! It might be fun, but …), tiger witch (yup, who knows? and I hope I did), ChibiSerenity, WolfBane2 (please stop threatening me. Or else …-winks-), Seto-Kaiba's-Fan, Kaira-chan (uhm, oops? And yes, be glad you're not Honda –grins-), Flame Swordswoman, Sei Kou Ki (hehehe), pisces071 (of course they're getting somewhere. –winks-), Star Light Shadow (well, -I- don't have the self-restraint either, so that kind of decided the matter. –smiles guiltily-), Sarasusasamiga (not to spoil you or anything, but no, Honda'll have no more encounters during his trip), FREAK014 (you can cut the 'or something', really), Amonae (lots of Yami and Yugi in this chapter; I hope you'll enjoy), The Chaotic Ones (not in this fic …sorry), KAC (uhm, sorry to say that Bakura and Honda will never meet again in this fic. Sorry.), Anime Crazed (mwah, I'd say the first option sounds slightly more likely), Amarin Rose (-winks and grins-), rhia of the ice (the advantage of an AU, I guess. –grins- Thanks!), VampssAmby10210 (you'll know it all within three chapters), hiei fan girl, Chiqiri, mandapandabug, Ril, Tara-Jamina (-grins- That's quite all right.), radiany (uhm, I'm fine, really. And I didn't know it was –that- bad … or dramatic –looks a little worried-), StrawberryVanilla and Rikainiel (tomorrow was right, yes. At least in my time-zone.).

(!) Warning for silliness in this chapter. (What can I say, I was in the mood. -coughs-)

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The sound of someone ringing his doorbell rather insistently was not ranked in Yami's top-5 ways to be woken up. Especially not at ... half past eight on a Sunday-morning.

Wondering who on earth would be calling upon him at a time like this - and hoping it weren't his parents who'd planned to surprise him by dropping by without calling first -, Yami stumbled down the stairs.

The part of his mind that was slightly more awake than the rest hesitantly offered the suggestion that perhaps he ought to put on some more clothing, but Yami shut it up by reasoning that anyone who showed up at an ungodly hour like this was practically -asking- for it. And he wasn't completely nude anyway.

Bracing himself for exclamations of surprise ('But son, were you still asleep this -late-? You're wasting your life lazing away!') and a check-over ('Mama's little boy has grown again, hasn't he? Though I really wish you'd do something about that hair of yours. It looks like some sort of fern!'), Yami gingerly opened the door.

He was greeted by complete silence, aside from one startled gasp, and a conspicuous lack of check-overs. And, though that registered a bit later than the rest, a pair of wide-open, purple eyes. Their gaze wandered up and down his body before coming to rest on his face.

"Yugi?!"

x

Yugi -knew- that it was kind of early, really, only once he'd been awake, he hadn't been able to go back to sleep again. His homework had been finished yesterday-evening, and his grandfather usually slept until nine on Sundays.

In short, Yugi had been up at seven, without anything to do but wait for a 'reasonable' time to head over to Yami's house. While Yami hadn't exactly mentioned any specific time at which Yugi'd be welcome too.

All of which had led to Yugi deciding that, after an entire hour of watching cartoons, he was sick of cartoons and eager to see Yami. Possibly, Yami had awoken early too, having precisely the same problem as Yugi.

The odds to that were slim at best, Yugi knew, yet ... it was -possible-. The only way to find out if it was true was to go to Yami's house.

Which he'd done.

To be faced with a rather sleepy-looking Yami who wore a pair of boxers with ... little blue and red dragons on them. At least, Yugi -thought- that was what they were. He hadn't felt comfortable enough to let his gaze linger too long, after realizing that he was staring at Yami-in-boxers-and-nothing-else.

"Yugi?!" Well, at least Yami didn't sound too angry. Or embarrassed. In fact, Yugi thought he almost sounded pleasantly surprised. Though that might be wishful thinking.

"Uhm ... good morning. Sorry that I'm early." Yugi ordered the blood that had rushed to his cheeks to go elsewhere.

"That's okay. Come on in," Yami said -that is, Yugi translated the mumblings coming out of his mouth that way- and stepped aside to allow Yugi to enter his house.

xxxxx

"Ahhh. Coffee. The perfect way to wake up," Yami sighed contentedly sipping from a mug. He'd offered one to Yugi as well, but he'd politely declined. "What's so funny?"

Yugi was smiling, almost laughing, though he quickly got his expression back under control at Yami's question.

"It's just that you look very ... different from the way you are at school right now." Yugi bended his head, blushing again.

"Less intelligent and awake, you mean?" Yami inquired, pouring himself another mug of coffee.

Yugi studied him for a moment before shaking his head. "No, it's not just that. You're much less ... dark. Much more open and nice and -normal-. I like you this way."

Yami chuckled. Had there been a competition for 'looking like a tomato', Yugi'd have been a sure winner.

"I'm glad to hear that. Though I'm afraid the teachers wouldn't quite approve if I came to school dressed in boxers," Yami winked at Yugi.

"I guess it's simply hard to act arrogant, superior and cold when all you're wearing is a pair of boxers with dragons on them," Yugi retorted tartly.

"Perhaps," Yami conceded. "The world will probably never know."

Yugi appeared a little disappointed.

"Oh, and they're not dragons. They're bunnies," Yami added.

Yugi's laugh was worth the humiliation of admitting to wear boxers with bunnies on them.

xxxxx

Honda's first thought at waking up was 'where the heck -am- I?', followed by the equally easily answered question 'what time is it?'.

Next came 'who's making those sounds as if he's being strangled?', which was a bit harder. Honda finally concluded it had to be Ryou having a bad dream in the room next to his.

On one hand, he wanted to rush in there to wake the boy, but on the other ... well, if Ryou'd been a -girl-, Honda probably wouldn't have entered his bedroom. They didn't know each other that well. And since Honda was gay, storming into Ryou's bedroom -would- be kind of like walking in on a sleeping girl, wouldn't it? Not that Honda's sexual preferences had come up in their conversations ...

Ryou seemed to be calling someone's name - Sakura? his faraway girlfriend, maybe?- and Honda finally decided that it was way too early to think. It was a fact that Ryou didn't sound like he was enjoying his dreams, so Honda, as his friend and housemate, should go in and wake him.

It was as simple as that.

Nonetheless, as he slammed open the door, Honda was quite grateful to find Ryou dressed in pajamas and sitting up in his bed, apparently having awoken on his own. Lifting his head and noticing Honda, he smiled.

"You sounded like you were having a pretty bad nightmare, so I thought I'd better check on you to see if I could help," Honda offered by way of explanation for his presence.

"Thank you, I'm all right now. My apologies for waking you," Ryou replied, looking a bit sheepish.

"Hey, it was time for me to get out of bed anyway. Any special wishes for breakfast? Or would you rather get some more sleep?" Honda asked.

"I ... think I'd rather not." Ryou shivered. "Breakfast sounds quite good."

"Breakfast it is then. Are you sure you're okay?" Honda inquired worriedly. Ryou was rather pale. It might just be a lingering effect of his nightmare, of course.

Ryou nodded determinedly. "I'm perfectly fine."

tbc


	24. Twentyfour

Slam dunk

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Warnings/notes : AU, Yami/Yugi, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda, possibly slight Bakura/Ryou, oocness.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

written at 26th june 2004, by Misura

Thanks to Yana5 (-grins-), Snow Angel (hmm. I'd be more worried about upsetting Bakura than squeezing too hard, really), Sansi (what picture? There's no such picture! –hides it behind her back- -winks-), VampssAmby10210, Seto-Kaiba's-Fan, Koyuki (they'll be there in the last chapter, I promise), s.h.i.r.o.i.k.e.t.s.u.e.k.i (-smiles-), The Chaotic Ones (sorry?), legansimay, hiei fan girl (uhm no, not that I know), WolfBane2 (-sighs- I can't resist Puppy Dog Eyes so … I'll ask my muses for a loose fic about those four? Hmm?), mandapandabug (Joey's in this chapter. Kind of.), Kaira-chan (I ah may have been overdoing Yugi's kawaii-factor a little, sorry. As to Ryou's dream … it wasn't intended to be mysterious, really. Just about Bakura.), ChibiSerenity3 (well, Sakura –is- a more common name than Bakura, methinks. So it's a logical error, isn't it? –grins-), Crystal Blaize (… maybe a little), Star Light Shadow (thanks for the reassurances), Alessa Embers (hmm, yes, I do wish I knew Yami's address), Amonae (-grins-), Kiawna, Anime Crazed (yes, he was), Tara-Jamina, FREAK014, Sei Kou Ki, DarkShadowFlame (… he was dreaming about Bakura chasing him through a dark forest and woke up when Honda opened the door of –his- room, since he's a light sleeper. That was what was supposed to be happening anyway. –coughs and sweatdrops-), Ril, Flame Rhiannon (please be nice to my donkey), StrawberryVanilla, himeno, radiany ('Sakura' is simply Honda translating a'u'a to a name, really. And sorry, I felt a little ill so I updated late), Adele (I aim for weekly updates, every Monday), Claudia (-nods- Partially, they're meant to, partially, they confuse me too), UnknownDarkMystery (would you like some aspirin? –winks-), Kyoko Komiashi (I update every Monday. Aside from this week.) and Sierra's Darkness.

xxxxxxxxx

"I ah, got a letter from my father yesterday," Ryou began, looking a bit uncomfortable. Honda wasn't sure if it was because of his nightmare or because of some other reason, so he limited his reply to an encouraging nod.

Besides, his mouth was full. And with Ryou's manners being impeccable, Honda felt obliged to make an effort as well.

"He's changed his mind about sending me here. Apparently, the leader of the project he's currently working on has a brother of about my age, and she's offered to let me share his tutors. He only speaks Egyptian, so she also would like someone around to teach him English," Ryou continued.

Honda swallowed a bit of his breakfast. Pretty tasty, if he did say so himself.

"Private tutors, huh? You'd better be prepared for him being a bit of a spoilt brat then." Honda winked.

Ryou smiled faintly. "According to my father, Malik Ishtar is a 'delightfully mischievous young gentleman, who, on occasion, throws temper tantrums that surely must be audible in Domino'. But maybe he's just lonely. Aside from his sister and a brother who's living in some monastery, he doesn't have any family."

"Family's important," Honda agreed, conveniently forgetting about his unpleasant uncle.

"Unfortunately, this -does- mean I have to leave for Egypt. Soon." Ryou seemed downcast again.

"Oh." Slowly, the full realization of what Ryou's news meant started to dawn on Honda. "You mean I'm going to have to look around for another place to live."

Ryou bit his lip. "Not ... necessarily. This apartment has been bought for me to live in, and to serve as a deposit for all the things my father wanted to keep, but couldn't take with him to Egypt. As you've seen though, it's a bit big for one person to keep tidy and clean. But if you wanted to, and if you could find someone willing, you could continue to live here with another person. I'm sure my father wouldn't mind."

A brilliant plan popped up in Honda's mind. "Great! I know just the guy!" With a slightly embarrassed cough, he added quickly: "I'll miss you, of course."

Ryou didn't appear to mind Honda's enthusiasm, seeming rather relieved at this reception of his news.

xxxxx

_"Hey, if a meagre few weeks of silence-treatment earn me a dinner-date, I wonder what two months of it will net me."_

_"Don't you dare!"_

_"Can you give me a good reason not to?" _

Could he? Could he really?

Listlessly dipping his spoon into his cereals-with-yoghurt, Seto mulled over Joey's challenge.

In retrospect, he never should have swallowed the bait so readily. He should have stayed cool, without responding to Joey's teasing and probing.

Unfortunately, he couldn't undo what he'd said or done last night.

Seto didn't have the time to dwell on 'if only's; he needed to figure out what actions to take next, what plan to follow to get back in control of this whole situation.

To let Joey play around with him wasn't something Seto intended to allow to continue for too long. In fact, he hadn't intended to let the control of the game slip away from him at all.

What had he been -thinking-?

Seto lifted the spoon to his lips, grimacing at the soppy cereals and shoving the bowl away from him in disgust. Great. Now Joey was ruining his breakfast as well.

It seemed that even without being present, Joey could disrupt Seto's schedules and plans.

_"Can you give me a good reason?"_

Could he?

Seto chuckled mirthlessly.

He couldn't even give -himself- a solid, rational, good reason for what he was doing and saying.

How then was he ever to come up with one that would convince Joey not to ignore him for another half eternity?

xxxxx

Otogi was, at heart, a social person.

Whenever one of his friends was particularly happy or fortunate, Otogi was cheered up as well.

Whenever one of them was sad or depressed, Otogi too felt somewhat downcast.

He was aware, of course, that not everyone was in possession of the social gene which he was lucky enough to possess. People like Kaiba and Yami simply never would understand wat it was like to be glad for someone else, or to have someone being glad for -you-.

Otogi did. He enjoyed cheering people up with his good news. And whom better to give some extra cheer and happiness than a certain valiant blonde who had taken upon himself the epic task to turn the fiercest of anti-social dragons into his own private lapdog?

Grinning at that last mental image, Otogi punched in Joey's number.

"What is it with you and calling people in the middle of the night?" an annoyed voice demanded.

Otogi 'tsk'ed. Apparently, -someone- was suffering from a morning-temper. Well, actually -he- was the only one 'suffering' from it, obviously.

"Seto?"

Otogi blinked. -Kaiba- had called Joey at night? Possibly more than once, even? How ... interesting. Otogi could think of a dozen topics they could have discussed at an hour like that, none of them very likely. Or suitable to be mentioned to Joey.

"Good morning to you as well. It's actually nearly afternoon where I live, but never mind that."

A short pause, during which Joey probably tried to wake up enough to ripost Otogi's remark.

"Otogi?"

"Yes. Sorry for having to disappoint you by not being your knight in shining armor," Otogi sighed.

Joey muttered something rather unflattering. Otogi assumed it was about Kaiba. Apparently, last night hadn't turned out as well as Joey'd hoped.

"What is so important that it can't wait until Monday?" Joey demanded.

Otogi swallowed his first reply, which was to call 'you get three guesses!'. Joey didn't sound like he was in the proper kind of mood for that.

"My game will be taken into production within half a year," Otogi said, quite proud of his self-control. He actually felt like yelling it, but, again, Joey probably wouldn't appreciate that very much. "I got an e-mail from the C.E.O. of Industrial Illusions this morning, saying his corporation is quite eager to launch my game and that he wants to meet me -personally-. 'As soon as is convenient'."

"Congratulations. I'm real glad for you," Joey answered. And hung up.

"Yeah, being in love's not that great nowadays, is it?" Otogi clucked his tongue and went back to reading P. J. Crawford's message one more time, meanwhile musing on what that P. might stand for.

-to be finished in the next chapter-


	25. Twentyfive The End

Slam dunk

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Warnings/notes : AU, Yami/Yugi, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda, possibly slight Bakura/Ryou, oocness.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

written at 27th june 2004, by Misura

Thanks to Icy Flame (yes, Joey –is- on the right track, isn't he? Bakura and Malik … who can say?), Anime Crazed (the second actually, but that's fast too, isn't it?), Yana5, Sansi (hey! Gimme back my pictures! … Oh, well, you can keep them, I guess. My way of saying 'sorry'), The Chaotic Ones (yup, you're right about Honda. Bakura's in this chapter, briefly), Amarin Rose (everything and nothing will be explained this chapter), ChibiSerenity3 (yes, it is. Why wouldn't it?), Kiawna (good ones, bad ones, mediocre ones … yes), pixiestickchild, Killian (yes, I mean like ending, sorry), Kaira-chan (J is for 'Junior', of course. Poor P.J.), Reppu (alas, no, it can't be wrapped up and thus the ending is not a good one. Sorry), Seto-Kaiba's-fan, Star Light Shadow (three out of four isn't too bad, I hope), Amonae, WolfBane2 (you're not the only one –grins sadly-), VampssAmby10210, hAdOwCat (yes, this is the last chapter), pawikan (it's now or never, considering this is the last one), Alessa Embers (hm, sorry for not giving you a glimpse of Malik), FREAK014 (it's Rishid, little as knowing that means –coughs-), Ril, mandapandabug (actually, it's an AU, with some elements from the first season, yes. Sorry for confusing you), Flame Rhiannon (I'll ah do my best), hiei fan girl, Snow Angel (since Marik won't actually show up, he doesn't need to be paired. Sorry), DarkShadowFlame (erhm, yes, well, you see … I've no plans for a sequel. None. And the plot's unresolved at the end of this. I'm very sorry), Sharem (short reviews count too) and Darkest Aphelion (it doesn't quite merge back into canon, since it's inconsistent with some of the things in there, though some elements may make it look like that).

If it hadn't been for all of your reviews, I doubt if this fic would have gotten this far. So thank you all very much, one last time.

Chapter warning : rushedness, silliness, kissing

xxxxxxxxxxx

"Wow! You're really good at this!" Yugi smiled, in spite of just having lost yet another game. Yami found Yugi's attitude rather surprising. In his place, Yami'd have been thoroughly frustrated and galled at having lost so many times.

"Practice makes perfect," Yami shrugged. He wasn't really used to uttering comforting platitudes to opponents he'd beaten fair and square, yet somehow this time, it was different.

Perhaps because it was Yugi. Or simply because his opponent seemed completely unbothered by the crushing defeat he'd just been dealt.

Of course, since no one before Yugi had ever taken his loss at Yami's hands that easily, those two explanations were kind of the same.

"But being perfect doesn't necessarily make you happy, does it?" Yugi asked, his cheeks turning slightly red.

Yami raised one eyebrow.

"I mean, you've only practised this game so much on your own, because your parents weren't there and because you didn't have anyone to come over and play it with you. Or do something else than a computer-game." Yugi's nose wrinkled at the last word.

Yami looked at the clock. "I think that maybe you should be heading back home, before your grandfather starts to worry."

Yugi's blush deepened as he nodded and rose. "I ... didn't mean to pry."

"You didn't," Yami replied curtly. Which was true. Yugi hadn't 'pried' at all; Yami had simply told him most of what had made him so adept at computer-games.

They walked to the hall of the house in silence, with Yugi appearing to feel uncomfortable and guilty about his remark about perfection not always equalling hapiness, and Yami brooding if he ought to say something comforting and, if so, what.

"Thanks for inviting me over. I enjoyed today," Yugi offered hesitantly.

"In spite of me receiving you in boxers?" Yami teased, more than willing to allow the subject of their conversation to be changed.

"I ... you look ... pretty good in boxers." Yugi nearly choked on the words. Yami chuckled.

"Will you return the favor some time?" he asked, his tone still light.

"Return the favor?" Yugi blinked, confused. Before Yami could think of some other way to diplomatically phrase his question however, the meaning of Yami's words seemed to sink in. "Oh! I ... if you want to ... I mean ... "

"What -I- want has little to do with it," Yami snorted, somewhat relieved at Yugi's reaction. It could have been a little more positive but ... it also could have been a -lot- more negative.

"Ah," Yugi managed. "I probably should go now." He didn't move.

Yami bended forwards, brushing his lips very lightly over Yugi's cheek. The gesture was meant as much as some sort of comfort and reassurance to Yugi as a proof to Yami himself that he was able to do this. Able, and more than willing. "I'll see you again Monday."

Yugi was beet-red again as he walked to the door, then turned around.

"You could ... walk me home?"

Yami wondered why he hadn't thought of that himself.

xxxxx

Otogi decided that Lady Fortune had to think it was his birthday today. Or perhaps she simply felt like picking on his despicable and pick-worthy employer.

First, there had been that e-mail from Industrial Illusions, containing news that would, in the long run, free him from his financial dependence on the man, by promising him a quite neat salary for promotion-activities as soon as his game would be launched.

Then, Honda had dropped by, with a most ... interesting proposal, that would enable Otogi to move out and thus regain his complete independence. (Well, aside from Honda, of course, but Otogi was reasonably sure he could manage that. Especially considering Honda had already called him 'pretty', a sure sign that his famous charms were working on the brunet.)

"I could almost kiss you!" Otogi knew that perhaps he was reacting a bit overly ... exuberant, yet at the moment, he couldn't care less. If felt -good- to almost bounce while going to pack his bags and imagine the expression that would appear on his employer's face when Otogi told him he'd no longer be at the man's beck and call.

"I wouldn't mind," Honda grinned. It made him look rather attractive, Otogi noted with approval. Quite different from the sour and dull Honda he'd thought he knew.

"Tsk, tsk. Hasn't anyone ever told you I -never- make out on a first date?" Since Otogi lived by no such rule, he was pretty sure the answer to that was 'no'. But considering he was going to -live- with Honda, he saw no reason to rush things.

"We aren't on a date," Honda pointed out, quite logical. "Nor are we going to go on one any time soon, as far as I know."

Otogi shrugged. "You -were- going to ask me, weren't you? Consider this as a 'yes' in reply. Now, if you could give me some help with these bags ... "

Honda muttered something. Otogi chose to pretend he hadn't heard what.

xxxxx

(Monday)

Joey had to admit he was feeling just a teensy little bit nervous. All right, maybe more than that.

He was -very- nervous, but, judging by Otogi's cheerful greeting and Anzu's smile, doing a pretty neat job at hiding it. Seto hadn't shown up yet.

Which didn't help much.

His threat to ignore Seto for two full months wasn't really one he looked forward to make good on. Perhaps, Joey acknowledged, he shouldn't have uttered it, but then Seto probably wouldn't have changed -anything-, simply trying to get back to the routine of his life, with Joey as some sort of pet that followed him around all the time, yet never was allowed to touch him.

Joey might have -acted- like such a thing satisfied him, at least in Seto's perspective. It didn't though, and he wasn't about to allow Seto to downgrade their relationship to that level.

Still, if given the choice between that and nothing ...

"Mutt."

One point for him: Seto had adressed him. Granted, by a slightly insulting nickname, but ...

"Seto." Joey managed not to grin. Or let his hands betray his uncertainty by making weird movements.

Another point: Seto didn't snap at him to call him 'Kaiba'.

"You asked me for a reason. I have one." Seto sounded like he was holding a lecture for school, rather than talking to his boyfriend-to-be. Joey wasn't sure what that indicated.

"Just one?" he flapped out.

Seto smirked. "It's a good one."

Joey cocked his head, rather curious. "Well, let's hear it then."

"I can't tell you," Seto informed him.

Joey blinked, then narrowed his eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I can only show you," Seto continued.

Joey should have figured out what Seto was getting at by then.

He didn't.

Instead, he was taken completely by surprise as Seto kissed him, breaking away at exactly the moment Joey's brains caught up with what was going on and made some suggestions of things he could do to make his current position even more enjoyable.

Typical. Seto knew him much too well.

"Good enough?" Seto asked.

Joey snorted. "Not nearly, but I'm sure you'll learn."

He had to wink -and- grin to get it through to Seto that remark had been intended as a joke. Joey decided that he'd really need to work on Seto's sense of humor.

Ah well, at least he could kiss. That was a nice start.

xxxxx

Ryou sank down in the chair that bore the number that corresponded with the one on his ticket. He stared out of the window for a brief moment. On one hand, he felt sad to have to leave Domino before he'd gotten any chance to really get to know anyone there. On the other hand, he was looking forwards to seeing his father again, not to mention to be able to experience a real dig first-hand.

When someone came and sat in the chair next to him, Ryou at first hardly even noticed. Until a soft cough drew his attention, making him turn his head.

"Why, hello, Ryou. Fancy meeting you here," Bakura grinned. "It's a small world after all, don't you agree?"

OWARI (aka The End)

A/N : I am aware that certain matters could (and perhaps should) be described further, but ... I chose not to. I hope this ending hasn't disappointed any of you.


End file.
